A nearly one-week animation for Hurricane Melissa with infrared (IR) imagery on the left and its maximum wind speed (intensity) evolution on the right. The animation briefly pauses at landfall in Jamaica.

IR images extend about 600 km from the center of the storm to illustrate its shape evolution.

I am at a loss for words as I watch Hurricane Melissa continue intensifying today. I'm thinking of the many folks in its path who will face compound flooding and wind hazards over an extended period of time.

(Animation shows 1-minute GOES mesoscale imagery since sunrise on October 27.)

Side-by-side geostationary images (visible to left, infrared to right) since sunrise highlight category 5 Hurricane Melissa's painstakingly slow motion over extremely warm water. Despite its current proximity to Jamaica, landfall isn't expected until **tomorrow morning**.

Melissa has rapidly intensified into a category 4 major hurricane according to preliminary NHC estimates:
- from 60 to 120 kt in 24 hours (⬆️ 60 kt)
- from 90 to 110 kt in just 6 hours (⬆️ 20 kt)

This slow-moving storm will not only deliver damaging winds & storm surge but also catastrophic rainfall.

6-hourly infrared satellite images of Tropical Storm #Melissa show its improved organization over the past 24 hours, including convection (thunderstorms) becoming more centered instead of shifted to the storm's east side.

Its slow movement + heavy rain will likely produce catastrophic flooding.

This 36-hour storm-following animation of Tropical Storm Melissa shows its ongoing lopsided structure. However, watch the persistent *deep* convection occurring on the east (right) side of the storm near the end of the loop. Those ripples are gravity waves from the cloud tops hitting the tropopause!

Mid-level water vapor imagery (GOES-East Band 9) helps visualize the fluid nature of the atmosphere!

This animation spans the past week (September 20-27) from Gabrielle's rapid intensification through newly-minted TD Nine. Storm labels show the name when it's tropical but numbers when it isn't.

When a hurricane can take off, boy does it take off:
the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season story.

Watch Humberto also rapidly intensify from a lopsided tropical storm to a major hurricane.

Notable intensity changes:
- 40 to 125 kt within 48 hours
- 65 to 125 kt within 24 hours

Watch Gabrielle evolve from a lopsided tropical storm to a major hurricane in less than 48 hours.

Circle extends about 600 km from the storm center. Intensity values are interpolated to hourly resolution to match the infrared images, rounded to 5-kt increments in line with NHC precision.