305 km/h: Hurricane Melissa ties as strongest Atlantic hurricane
The storm killed dozens of people and caused billions of dollars in damage when it hit Jamaica near peak strength in October 2025
Hurricane Melissa grew into one of the most powerful storms ever observed in the Atlantic basin, according to a final report issued by the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The system peaked just before making landfall in Jamaica on the morning of Oct. 28, 2025, causing widespread damage across the western half of the island.
DON’T MISS: 406 km/h: Hurricane Melissa’s confirmed wind gust sets record
Melissa was one of the strongest storms on record
A routine post-season analysis conducted by NHC meteorologists found that Hurricane Melissa’s winds were slightly stronger than previously thought.
The system now lives in the records with maximum sustained winds of 305 km/h, which ties 1980’s Hurricane Allen as the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. Reliable records here date back to the 1850s.
To put that into perspective, there were 968 documented hurricanes in the Atlantic between 1851 and 2025. Melissa's formidable strength beat out all but just one of those storms.
Melissa also tied numerous other maximum wind and minimum pressure records across the basin, cementing its status as one of the most intense storms to ever strike land in this part of the world.
A dropsonde released from the belly of a Hurricane Hunter aircraft found an instantaneous wind speed of 406 km/h, marking the strongest such measurement ever observed anywhere on Earth. The previous record was 399 km/h observed during Super Typhoon Megi in 2010.
Hurricane Melissa devastated parts of Jamaica
Melissa encountered ideal conditions for rapid intensification in the western Caribbean Sea at the end of October 2025.
A complex atmospheric setup forced the storm to stall just south of Jamaica, affording Melissa extra time to grow into a monstrous storm before making landfall on the small island nation.
A deep reserve of very warm ocean waters helped the system erupt into a powerful major hurricane in less than 24 hours, and it took just 40 hours to grow from a Category 1 to a scale-topping Category 5 hurricane.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall near Hope, Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds of 300 km/h and a minimum central pressure of 897 mb.
The NHC’s final report states that 45 people died in Jamaica as a result of the storm’s winds, storm surge, and heavy rainfall. The system ultimately caused nearly $9 billion USD in damage across the island.
Header image courtesy of NOAA/CIRA.