Melissa grows into a Category 3 hurricane while unleashing torrential rain in the north Caribbean

Cooler temperatures in Jacksonville as Hurricane Melissa hits Jamaica and Cuba. See path

Does Hurricane Melissa Show It’s Time for a Category 6 Designation?

Hurricane Melissa’s powerful winds and drenching rains devastated Jamaica. But is its wrath a sign that we need a new designation for monster storms?

Deadly Hurricane Melissa weakens to Category 2 storm; 36 die

Hurricane Melissa weakened to a Category 2 storm Wednesday afternoon after causing at least 36 deaths after hitting Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba since Tuesday.

Hurricane Melissa makes landfall in Jamaica with winds up to 300 km/h

Jamaican government expects devastating damage from most powerful storm to directly hit the island in 174 years, pleads with residents to seek shelter

Hurricane Melissa strengthens as it approaches Jamaica

US forecasters believe the Category 4 hurricane could reach Category 5 status, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica.

Hurricane Melissa’s wind speeds doubled in less than a day

When Melissa grew from a tropical storm into a powerful Category 4 hurricane this weekend, it became the fourth of this year’s five Atlantic hurricanes to undergo what hurricane experts call “rapid intensification.” The intensity of a hurricane is measured by its maximum sustained wind speed, and when that speed increases by at least 35 mph in a 24-hour period — or roughly two categories on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale — meteorologists cal…