Hurricane Melissa plowed into the island nation of Jamaica as a powerful Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds early Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 28, destroying homes, flooding parishes and leaving more than a third of the island without power, according to early reports.
The trip across the island weakened Melissa but early Wednesday morning, it made landfall in Cuba as an “extremely dangerous” Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 115 mph and rainfall up to 30 inches in mountainous areas, the National Hurricane Center said in a morning update.
The deadly storm is expected to still be a powerful hurricane when it moves across the southeastern or central Bahamas later today, and pass near or to the west of Bermuda late Thursday and Thursday night.
Melissa is expected to continue bringing an additional 3 to 6 inches of rain across Jamaica, with total rainfall near 30 inches in elevated areas. Life-threatening flash-flooding and landslides will continue today and into tonight, the NHC said.
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Significant impacts to Florida and the U.S. East Coast are not expected at this time.
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Spaghetti models for Hurricane Melissa. See trajectory, path
Special note about spaghetti models: Spaghetti model illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The Hurricane Center uses only the top four or five highest performing models to help make its forecasts.
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Where is Hurricane Melissa now? Where is it headed?
Special note on the NHC cone: The forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.
Is a hurricane coming to Florida?
Melissa poses “little to no risk to Florida or the continental U.S.,” said Dr. Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist at WeatherTiger, who works with the USA TODAY Network.
“Odds of any outer bands of Melissa even minimally scraping southeast Florida on its way out (into the Atlantic) are around 5%.”
“The timing and strength of a dip in the jet stream over the eastern United States next week will help determine the path that Melissa takes through the northern Caribbean and into the southwestern Atlantic,” AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said Oct. 25. “At this time, the odds of ‘direct’ rain and wind impacts from Melissa reaching the U.S. East Coast are low.
Forecasters caution residents to monitor the tropics and stay prepared.
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No watches or warnings associated with Hurricane Melissa are in effect for Florida or the U.S. as of Oct. 28.
Excessive rainfall forecast across Florida
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hurricane Melissa latest spaghetti models, Florida forecast, path, trajectory for Wednesday
Reporting by C. A. Bridges and Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
