\u201cThis is about as strong as hurricanes get,\u201d says Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. Even in the western Pacific, where powerful storms happen more frequently, few tropical cyclones would achieve this intensity.<\/p>\n The reason Melissa has been able to reach this rarified company is a near-perfect alignment of circumstances. \u201cThis is taking advantage of every possible condition it can right now,\u201d McNoldy says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s this frustrating combination of\u2014scientifically speaking\u2014we know this is possible, but as humans, we are flabbergasted at seeing manifest in this way,\u201d says Kim Wood, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n The engine at the heart of any tropical cyclone is the convection powered by the temperature difference between the warm sea surface and the cold atmosphere at the top of the storm, where air flows out. That outflow emerges at a layer called the tropopause, which marks the boundary between the troposphere (where Earth\u2019s weather happens) and the overlying stratosphere. The tropopause is higher in the tropics than it is in more temperate latitudes. It\u2019s also higher over the Pacific than it is over the tropical Atlantic, which is part of the reason the Pacific\u2019s typhoons are often stronger than Atlantic hurricanes (though they are the same phenomena). Melissa is making full use of that tropopause height and its extremely cold cloud tops, fueling its exceptional convection.<\/p>\n At the bottom end of its convective engine, Melissa has been parked \u201cbasically over the warmest water the Atlantic has to offer right now,\u201d McNoldy says. Ocean temperatures in the Caribbean are at their peak in October after the summer months, when \u201cthe ocean just sits and cooks,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Buoy measurements from a week ago showed water temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) or more down to 60 meters (nearly 200 feet). \u201cThere was a widespread bath sitting underneath what eventually became Melissa,\u201d Wood says.<\/p>\n Normally, a storm as slow-moving as Melissa has been\u2014with forward motion of 3 to 5 mph\u2014would churn up colder waters from deeper in the ocean, ultimately weakening the storm. But there is ample warmth deep enough in this area that that hasn\u2019t happened to Melissa. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much the perfect place for this to happen,\u201d McNoldy says.<\/p>\n On the other hand, if Melissa had been faster-moving, it might not have been able to feed on the warm waters for as long as it has. This hurricane has barely moved in the past week.<\/p>\n The time the hurricane has spent over this wealth of warmth has also helped it maintain its incredible intensity for so long\u2014it\u2019s been a Category 5 storm for more than a day.<\/p>\n Melissa grew from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in a process known as rapid intensification, which occurs when a storm\u2019s winds jump by at least 35 mph in 24 hours. Melissa\u2019s winds increased by twice that amount during its first period of rapid intensification. \u201cThat\u2019s extraordinary,\u201d McNoldy says.<\/p>\n Perhaps even more astounding was that Melissa underwent another period of rapid intensification after it was already a Category 4 hurricane. And it has not only maintained its Category 5 status as it has slowly approached Jamaica but has also kept intensifying. Normally, as storms begin to interact with land\u2014particularly with hilly terrain such as that of Jamaica\u2014friction starts to disrupt and weaken them. Yet Hurricane Melissa \u201clooks like it doesn\u2019t even know Jamaica is there,\u201d McNoldy says. \u201cIt looks completely undisturbed.\u201d<\/p>\n It is clear that, with a changing climate, ocean temperatures are rising, and there is more moisture available to tropical systems. And there is a clear trend toward more\u2014and more intense\u2014rapid intensification and a higher proportion of storms that reach higher intensities. Whether we will see more situations in which conditions line up perfectly to let hurricanes reach their maximum potential is unclear, Wood says. But Melissa will likely spur much more research into that question.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/hurricane-melissa-stats_graphic-735x1024.jpg\")