Hurricane Melissa, the most powerful storm of the 2025 Atlantic season, made landfall in Jamaica Tuesday as possibly its worst storm in recorded history.

The Caribbean storm — among the most powerful in history, with 185 mph winds — is expected to bring flash-flooding and landslides as it slowly moves across the island and heads north toward Cuba.

A hurricane forms when warm, moist air rises from the ocean surface and creates a spinning system of clouds and storms. In the centre, air sinks, creating the eye, a calm, cloud-free zone surrounded by a wall of violent winds and rain known as the eye-wall.

Hurricane Melissa, the strongest tropical cyclone of 2025, disrupts Caribbean travel, closing airports and causing widespread flight cancellations.

Hurricane Melissa is moving slowly. It reached the coast of Jamaica this afternoon after stalling out over the Caribbean Sea for the past two days. And yet, the winds that form Melissa are shockingly fast.

Tuesday 5 p.m. The National Hurricane Center warned about major flash flooding, landslides and strong winds in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Eastern Cuba as the latter country braced for the Category 4 hurricane Tuesday evening.

Celebrity Beyond’s Oct. 26 itinerary will visit the Western Caribbean rather than the Eastern Caribbean, according to the cruise line’s parent company, Royal Caribbean Group. The ship will visit Costa Maya in Mexico, Belize and Roatan, Honduras.

Today, Today, several developments occurred. Melissa changed into hurricane, before turning into a Category 5 hurricane. Then, it weakened to a Category 4 hurricane and eventually became a Category 3 hurricane before being downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph.