Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to bring days of heavy rain to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica and may trigger life-threatening flash flooding, the National Hurricane Center says.
Melissa, the 13th named storm of the Atlantic season, formed over the Caribbean on Tuesday. It isn’t expected to have major impacts on the mainland United States.
Here’s what to know about Tropical Storm Melissa.
Tropical Storm Melissa forecast and path
Early Thursday, Melissa’s core was about 300 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and about 240 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. It was inching along at only 3 mph, the hurricane center said. Maximum sustained winds were 50 mph, with tropical storm-force winds extending up to 115 miles out from the storm’s center.
/ Credit: Nikki Nolan/CBS News
On the forecast track, Melissa is “expected to be nearer to Jamaica and the southwestern portion of Haiti during the next couple of days,” the hurricane center said.
/ Credit: Nikki Nolan / CBS News
” … Little change in strength is expected during the next day or so, but significant strengthening is expected by late Friday and over the weekend. Melissa is forecast to become a hurricane in a couple of days,” the center continued.
CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan says Melissa is forecast to become a major hurricane by early next week.
“Forecast models are struggling to depict if it is going to move off to the northeast or stall out in the north-central Caribbean,” Nolan adds.
A hurricane watch is in place for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-Au-Prince, and a tropical storm watch is in effect for Jamaica.
Rainfall forecasts
Melissa is likely to bring 5 to 10 inches of rain to the southern Dominican Republic, southern Haiti and eastern Jamaica through Sunday, with locally higher amounts possible, the NHC said. “Additional heavy rainfall is possible beyond Sunday,” it continued, but uncertainty about Melissa’s track and speed “reduces confidence in exact totals.”
Still, “significant, life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides are possible,” the center pointed out.
“Across Puerto Rico, northern Dominican Republic, northern Haiti, and western Jamaica, 2 to 4 inches of rain is expected through Sunday,” the center said, and “flash and urban flooding will be possible through at least Sunday.”
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