Hurricane Melissa was hitting eastern Cuba hard early Wednesday after slamming Jamaica as a Category 5 storm. Maps show its forecast path.

Melissa's top winds of 185 mph are the second-strongest ever reported in an Atlantic hurricane. The storm ties for the strongest storm to hit land, along with the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, which hit the Florida Keys, and Hurricane Dorian in 2019, which hit the Bahamas.

Staffing cuts and a federal government shutdown are stretching scientists’ ability to make valuable hurricane observations.

Hurricane Melissa data is being sent to CSU's Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere Lab to investigate why Category 4 & 5 hurricanes are more common.

The NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center captured video aboard its Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, Kermit, as it was buffeted by winds near the storm's eye.

As Hurricane Melissa made landfall, a daring team of aviators flew straight into the eye of the monstrous Category 5 storm. On Monday, a US Air Force reserve crew from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, nicknamed the “Hurricane Hunters,” shared videos and images of their flight inside the cyclone to collect vital weather data.

Unusually heavy turbulence forced an Air Force WC-130J Hurricane Hunter aircraft to turn back from Hurricane Melissa on Tuesday and return to base to check for damage, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron said.

The first steps into a house are important ones. When it comes to assessing flood risk from hurricanes, first-floor elevation can be a key factor. Agencies such as the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) rely on data such as first-floor elevation in their damage modeling Hazus program.

(Photo: A person walks down a street affected by Hurricane Melissa; in Santa Cruz, Jamaica, 30 October 2025. Credit: Orlando Barría/EPA/Shutterstock)