US EditionClimate change boosted Hurricane Melissa's destructive winds and rain, analysis finds
Human-caused climate change increased Hurricane Melissa's wind speeds by 7% and rainfall intensity by 16%, intensifying damage across the Caribbean, scientists said.
- World Weather Attribution released an analysis Thursday finding human-caused climate change boosted Hurricane Melissa's maximum wind speeds by 7% and rainfall intensity by 16%.
- Warmer ocean temperatures and higher humidity increased atmospheric moisture and warmed oceans, with ocean temperatures in Melissa's path about 1.4°C warmer and conditions six times more likely due to climate change.
- Melissa reached peak sustained winds of 185 mph after rapid intensification and moved slowly across the Caribbean, drawing energy from very warm waters, WWA climate scientist Theodore Keeping said.
- The storm disrupted critical infrastructure and services, causing at least 61 deaths and displacing approximately 25,000 in Jamaica and more than 735,000 in Cuba.
- Analysis concluded climate change made conditions as extreme in October 2025 about six times more likely and increased the frequency of storms by a factor of 5, while climate models underestimate Caribbean rainfall and damages likely exceed available finance, with a US$150 million catastrophe bond expected to pay out.
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New report finds chilling link to exacerbated destruction from Hurricane Melissa: 'This is a harbinger of the future'
Scientists say the destructive power of Hurricane Melissa, the strongest hurricane to ever hit Jamaica and one of the most intense in the Atlantic basin, was boosted by our overheating planet. A new study by World Weather Attribution, an international scientific collaboration that analyzes how our warming world is shaping the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, found that record-breaking Hurricane Melissa was supercharged by our planet'…
Tulsa World
Climate change boosted hurricane, analysis finds
Human-caused climate change boosted the destructive winds and rain unleashed by Hurricane Melissa and increased the temperatures and humidity that fueled the storm, according to an analysis released Thursday.
How to build mental resilience to climate change
This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine. A close friend of mine escaped her home in the British Virgin Islands during Hurricane Irma in September 2017. She and her young family had to grab their passports and not much else when they fled 200mph winds. At the time, she described the total devastation as “like a bomb going off”. Every hurricane season, s…
The Columbian
Climate change boosted Hurricane Melissa’s destructive winds and rain, analysis finds
Human-caused climate change boosted the destructive winds and rain unleashed by Hurricane Melissa and increased the temperatures and humidity that fueled the storm, according to an analysis released Thursday. Read more...
Wrong, Detroit Free Press, Hurricane Melissa Wasn’t Caused by Climate Change - ClimateRealism
In a Detroit Free Press (FP) opinion piece, “Climate change denial can’t stand up to Category 5 Hurricane Melissa,” meteorologist Paul Gross claims that Hurricane Melissa proves climate change is making hurricanes stronger, faster, and more destructive. This is false. Hurricanes are weather, not climate. A single storm—or even a series of active storm seasons—says […]
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