Melissa strengthened into a deadly Category 5 hurricane Monday with catastrophic impacts expected across the Caribbean, similar to Sarasota last year.

Article last updated: Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, 8 p.m. ET

Jamaica is expected to be in the storm's eyewall, which refers to the band of dense clouds surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The eyewall generally produces the fiercest winds and heaviest rainfall, according to Deanna Hence, a professor of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.