Hurricane Melissa makes landfall on Jamaica's southwest coast

Jamaican functionary warns of 'life-threatening' put on the line from Hurricane genus melissa

Jamaica bracing for ‘massive impact’ ahead of powerful hurricane

Satellite images show Hurricane Melissa

Pilots fly inside eye of Hurricane Melissa

The U.S. National Hurricane Center confirmed landfall in a 1 p.m. ET update.

"CATEGORY 5 MELISSA MAKES LANDFALL IN JAMAICA … ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE LANDFALLS ON RECORD IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN...

"Melissa has made landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope with estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and an estimated minimum central pressure of 892 mb (millibars)."

They are also warning residents to not venture outdoors even if the eye — where the winds all but disappear — passes overhead.

The next update is set for 2 p.m. ET.

One of Jamaica’s main radio stations has been playing a new reggae jam that references Melissa, according to The Associated Press.

“Hold on, Jamaica!” the singer belted out, before giving a shout out to those in the Caribbean affected by the storm including “our family in Cuba, our sisters in Haiti.”

In between songs, people called in and reported conditions in their neighbourhoods, with one woman in western Jamaica saying it sounded like someone was knocking heavily on her door.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Entertainer Hotline Podcast posted a new song on Facebook called Melissa Warning. Lyrics include lines like “run for cover” and “board up the window glass before more storm surge arrive too fast,” set to a dance hall beat.

“This song is not just entertainment — it’s a message fi di people: Secure your family. Secure your yard. Listen di warnings,” the podcast wrote on Facebook.

Unlike tornadoes, hurricanes don’t just suddenly develop. There are stages.

First, it becomes a tropical depression, as the thunderstorms form from that warm air and warm water.

If the winds reach 119 km/h, it’s then classified as a tropical storm. This is according to the U.S.’s Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

Higher than that, it’s a hurricane. Below is the Saffir-Simpson scale. But it’s important to remember that all hurricanes are dangerous, no matter the scale.

I already touched on how warm water is needed for a hurricane to form, but let’s take it from the very beginning.

Hurricanes generally form from a tropical wave, an elongated area of low pressure that originates from Africa. This area moves westward across the very moist and warm tropics.

Getting back to the water, it needs to be 26.5 C over a depth of 50 metres. And of course, there have to be winds.

But if there’s too much vertical wind shear — the rate of change of the wind when it comes to the altitude — it can weaken the storm.

If that doesn’t happen, warm ocean air rises, forming that low pressure I talked about earlier. The air then rises and cools, creating thunderstorms. Higher up in the clouds, the water condenses and forms droplets, releasing more heat which fuels the storm.

With Melissa about to make landfall, Kingston journalist Zahra Burton said the capital isn't faring too badly, but Saint Elizabeth parish in the west is expected to take the brunt of the storm.

Some Saint Elizabeth residents were still asking to be evacuated this morning. Burton said that "those requests were accommodated" but cut it quite close.

"At this point … it's a race against time," she said.

When we think about hurricanes, we likely think more about their dangerous winds. But that’s not the only hazard. In fact, storm surge — the abnormal rise of water due to a storm’s winds which push water inland — is the leading cause of death in the U.S. when it comes to hurricanes.

Then there’s inland flooding, which can in turn cause landslides. That’s of particular concern when it comes to Jamaica due to its hilly topography.

As well, there’s the risk of tornadoes, which people may not be prepared for, especially if they’re in a location where they are typically rare.

Hurricane Melissa is about to make landfall in Jamaica, with some areas likely to be more affected than others.

Its central parishes (provinces) will be most at risk for rainfall, with that risk extending into the west as well, according to Evan Thompson, principal director of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service.

The projected landfall is near Parottee, Saint Elizabeth — the southwest of the island — with the storm expected to go northeast before exiting the island, Thompson told local news site Jamaica Observer.

The New York Times is reporting that winds could be significantly stronger in Jamaica’s mountains, which cover nearly half the country.

Thompson cautioned that other parishes will also experience severe weather, including landslides, storm surges and damaging winds.

"There is very little that can stop a Category 5 hurricane," Thompson said. "Regardless of where you are, if you are under the impact of those Category 5 hurricane-force winds, you will be having significant difficulty, especially with infrastructure that’s in the area."

Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica's minister of education, told reporters earlier today that there are roughly 25,000 tourists in the country.

"The safety and security of our visitors are paramount," the country's Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett told Travel Week, a Canadian tourism magazine.

"We are ensuring that all necessary measures are in place to protect and assist every guest. Jamaica's tourism sector is built on strong partnerships and resilience, and those values are guiding our response currently."

It’s been a relatively quiet hurricane season in terms of those that made landfall.

So far we’ve had 13 tropical storms (which includes Melissa). Of those, five have become hurricanes. But most of them strengthened when they were out at sea.

When it comes to Jamaica, the last major hurricane was Hurricane Beryl in 2024, which caused significant damage and killed at least 35 people. That storm didn’t make direct landfall, which is when the centre of the storm — the eye — moves over land.

At the time of this update, the eye of Melissa is just on the southwest coast of Jamaica.

"Rapid intensification." That’s a phrase that has been bandied about over the past few years when it comes to hurricanes. So what does that mean, exactly?

That’s when a hurricane’s wind speed jumps by 56 km/h over a 24-hour period.

Hurricane Melissa did that, and more.

The storm experienced what Winkley said was "extreme rapid intensification." As he said, its winds "exploded" by 113 km/h in 24 hours.

These types of storms are on the rise, thanks to record-warmth in our oceans.

"This hurricane season specifically, we've had five hurricanes and now four of them have undergone this extreme rapid intensification. This is something that we didn't see a couple decades ago, but that we're now seeing at least every season," Winkley said.

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