Hurricane Melissa Is The Strongest Storm On Earth In 2025

Category 5 Hurricane Katrina approaching Jamaica on October 28, 2025.

NOAA

As of early Tuesday morning, Hurricane Melissa is a strong Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 mph and potential gusts beyond 200 mph. The hurricane is now on final approach to Jamaica and will certainly be the strongest hurricane to ever directly strike the island nation. Here’s what you need to know right now about the strongest storm on Earth in 2025.

Current Status Of Hurricane Melissa

In its morning weather discussion, the National Hurricane Center stated, “Melissa will reach Jamaica as an extremely dangerous major hurricane within the next 12 hours.” It will remain a major hurricane even though some weakening may happen after it crosses Jamaica due to land and mountain interactions. As it continues northeastward, it is likely to still be a hurricane as it approaches Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, and possibly Bermuda later in the week. Hurricane warnings are currently posted for Jamaica, eastern Cuba, and portions of the Bahamas. A hurricane watch is in effect for Turks and Caicos Islands. Parts of Haiti, Turks and Caicos, and Cuba are also under a tropical storm warning.

Why Is It The Strongest Storm On Earth This Year?

According to preliminary data, sustained 175 mph winds place it in the top 10 strongest Atlantic-basin storms based on wind speed, according to meteorologist Matthew Cappucci of My Radar WeatherRadar. Cappucci documented his Sunday flight into Melissa at the Washington Post. The Weather Channel’s Jennifer Watson posted on her Facebook site that Hurricane Melissa is the 9th most intense hurricane in the basin based on central minimum pressure. Its pressure of 903 mb is very close to 902 mb observed in Hurricane Katrina, according to Watson.

Watson went on to write, “It is also the most intense hurricane this late in the season in the Atlantic. Melissa could reach sub-900 mb joining, Rita, Wilma, Gilbert, and the Labor Day 1935 hurricane.” Since Watson posted that information, the pressure reached 901 mb, which signifies a storm that was still likely strengthen early Tuesday morning. Hurricane Melissa was so violent that turbulence forced a hurricane hunter mission to be abandoned.

Hurricane Melissa surpassed Typhoon Ragasa (165 mph winds, 910 mb central pressure) as the strongest storm on Earth this year. Jeff Masters is a writer for Yale Climate Connections and a former hurricane hunter. He wrote, “Melissa has yet to make a landfall, but has already been responsible for eight deaths: five in Haiti, two in Jamaica, and one in the Dominican Republic.” Like many storms in recent years, Hurricane Melissa went through a phase of rapid intensification. With persistent warm waters, this will likely continue.

The island of Jamaica took a direct hit from Hurricane Gilbert at Category 3 strength in 1988. Hurricane Melissa is a Category 5 storm. One of several things I increasingly dislike about the Saffir-Simpson scale is that it can be misleading. Some people may perceive one category up from another one as only a “little” bit stronger. Like earthquake scales, the hurricane intensity scale increases logarithmically. That means a doubling of wind is not a doubling of damage. It actually results in a 256-fold increase in possible damage.

No one living on that island has ever experienced a landfalling Category 4 or 5 storm. Keep that logarithmic relationship in mind as you think about Hurricane Melissa. NHC wrote, “Within the eyewall, total structural failure is likely, especially in higher elevation areas where wind speeds atop and on the windward sides of hills and mountains could be up to 30 percent stronger.

Wind will not be the only story. Extreme rainfall, measured in feet, will be a featured hazard and will cause significant landslides, flooding, and other hazards. The southern coasts of Jamaica and some of the other islands will also experience catastrophic storm surge.