Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28, 2025, as a Category 5 storm near New Hope on the southwest coast, placing the island in extreme danger. It arrived with estimated sustained winds of 185 mph and a minimum central pressure of 892 mb, ranking among the strongest Atlantic landfalls on record.
By wind speed, Melissa tied Hurricane Dorian (2019) and the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. Its pressure also matched the 1935 storm for the lowest recorded landfall pressure in the Atlantic basin, underscoring how rare and intense the strike was.
