Melissa rapidly intensified going into Sunday morning and is now a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. The US National Hurricane Center expects it to strengthen into a rare Category 5 hurricane on Sunday night or early Monday.

Hurricane Melissa on Monday became the third Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in 2025, and all of them surged up within days/ Why is this happening?

According to the National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. Tuesday advisory, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 55 miles south-southeast of Negril Jamaica and 265 miles southwest of Guantanamo Cuba. With maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, the hurricane is moving to the north-northeast at 7 mph.

Texas newlyweds Kasydee and Hunter Bishop are trapped near Montego Bay, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches as a Category 5 storm with 175 mph winds.

Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday morning and move across southeastern Cuba Tuesday night.

Evan Thompson with the Meteorological Service of Jamaica warned that the impending landfall of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa would cause catastrophic and “life-threatening” damage. Thompson advised seeking shelter in buildings with as many walls as possible to separate them from the outside.

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.