Article last updated: Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, 2 a.m. ET

Jamaica is expected to be in the storm's eyewall, which refers to the band of dense clouds surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The eyewall generally produces the fiercest winds and heaviest rainfall, according to Deanna Hence, a professor of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The U.S. Defense Department has released footage of views inside Hurricane Melissa. The military said a U.S. Air Force Reserve crew from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known as the “Hurricane Hunters,

Article last updated: Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, 11 p.m. ET

Article last updated: Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, 7 a.m. ET

Melissa is forecast to become a hurricane by Saturday, Oct. 25, and a major hurricane by Sunday, Oct. 26, the Hurricane Center said. Current forecasts predict Melissa will be a Category 4 storm early next week. A major hurricane is one that is a Category 3 or higher, with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

Hurricane Melissa remains a powerful Category 5 storm with winds of 175 mph that is forecast to slam into Jamaica as the worst storm the island has ever seen.Here is Melissa’s forecast path:  Hurricane Melissa live updates: Storm upgraded to Category 5 on approach to JamaicaThe catastrophic and life-threatening hurricane-force winds will begin in Jamaica on Monday night.

Article first published: Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, 10 a.m. ET