Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 30th, 2025, between 3:45 AM and 4:45 AM UTC, causing catastrophic damage to the island's southwest coast, including the historic town of Black River. The storm, which set multiple Atlantic records for intensity, resulted in widespread destruction of structures and has a confirmed death toll exceeding 54 across the Caribbean and Central America, as reported by various meteorological and disaster relief agencies. A video shared on X by a resident captured the moment a roof was torn off a building in Browns Town, St. Ann, highlighting the severe impact of the hurricane. During the reporting window from 8:45 AM to 9:45 AM UTC on October 30th, the extent of Hurricane Melissa's devastating impact continued to unfold. The storm is now recognized as the strongest and most intense tropical cyclone globally for 2025, and tied as the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum central pressure of 892 mb. It also tied with DORIAN 2019 and LABOR DAY 1935 for the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricane on record at 185 mph, according to a compilation of storm data released this morning. These records were noted in a data summary shared on X by meteorologist FerragamoWx earlier today. Further records established by Hurricane Melissa include being the 3rd most-intense Atlantic hurricane on record and achieving the highest Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) reading ever recorded for a tropical cyclone at 185 knots (215 mph). The storm also produced the driest eye ever recorded worldwide in a tropical cyclone, with a temperature of -2.25°C. Additionally, the highest wind gust recorded by dropsonde was 219 knots (252 mph), and it holds the second-fastest wind gust ever recorded in a tropical cyclone at 252 mph, pending confirmation in reanalysis. The confirmed death toll from Hurricane Melissa across the Caribbean and Central America had surpassed 54 prior to this reporting window, with Haiti reporting 40 fatalities, Jamaica eight, the Dominican Republic four, and Panama two.
