Hurricane Melissa upgraded to 190-mph winds, tied for strongest Atlantic hurricane
A new report by the National Hurricane Center has pegged Hurricane Melissa with 190 mph winds, tied for the strongest ever measured in the Atlantic.
The National Hurricane Center’s final analysis has now upgraded Hurricane Melissa to become the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded alongside 1980’s Hurricane Allen with winds of 190 mph.
The National Hurricane Center has issued its final report on Hurricane Melissa, which devastated Jamaica in October 2025. One notable change is that the maximum sustained winds estimated by reconnaissance aircraft were increased from 185 mph to 190 mph, though the Jamaica landfall wind speed of 185 mph was unchanged.
This means that Hurricane Melissa is now tied with Hurricane Allen in 1980 for the strongest winds ever measured in an Atlantic hurricane.
Hurricane Allen never made landfall in the Caribbean but killed more than 220 people in Haiti with high winds and flooding. The storm later made landfall as a Category 3 storm near the border of Texas and Mexico.
Another key measure of a hurricane's intensity is the central pressure, or the atmospheric pressure at the core of the eye. At maximum strength, Melissa’s pressure dropped to 26.34 inches of mercury (892 millibars), tying with the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 for the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever observed. That number did not change in the final report.
Kingston, Jamaica's capital, was spared the worst of the hurricane, but western parts of the island nation experienced "total devastation." The storm made a second landfall near Chivirico, Cuba, on Oct. 22, as a Category 3 storm. Haiti was affected by severe flooding from Melissa, with more than 35 inches of rain falling in localized areas.
A record for the strongest wind gust ever measured via reconnaissance aircraft was also set by Hurricane Melissa and confirmed in November 2025.
The National Hurricane Center estimates that 95 people were killed by the storm -- 45 in Jamaica, 43 in Haiti and seven elsewhere. In Jamaica, they estimate 1.25 million farm animals were killed.
AccuWeather's damage and economic loss estimate for Hurricane Melissa was $48-52 billion.
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