The National Hurricane Center is keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Melissa, which is expected to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane.

Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to strengthen into a hurricane and is forecast to become a major hurricane by early next week.

A November tropical threat occurs roughly once every ten years, with the most recent strike taking place back in 2022 when Hurricane Nicole made landfall near Vero Beach on Florida’s east coast.

Tropical Storm Melissa is set to intensify this weekend, and Jamaica and other Caribbean islands are bracing for harsh weather, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Thursday morning.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is keeping a close eye on a tropical wave moving across the Atlantic Ocean.

Hurricane Melissa, after causing widespread catastrophic damage in Jamaica and Cuba, is now a Category 2 hurricane moving away from the Bahamas and racing toward the North Atlantic. The storm is forecast to pass just to the west of Bermuda this evening & tonight.

Gusty winds and rain were lashing parts of the Maritimes this morning as a large low-pressure system moved into the northeastern United States and Hurricane Melissa accelerated towards eastern Newfoundland.

Betsy Kling explains how different types of low pressure systems form, comparing Hurricane Melissa to the Great Blizzard of 1978.