Hey there! Wanted to drop a line over the weekend to talk about Melissa.
This is going to be a nasty one for our friends in the Caribbean. Those that know of hurricane history or have friends/family or are from Jamaica know that Gilbert back in 1988 is the storm of record.
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If you want real-time weather data on the storm visit the News 6 YouTube page to monitor Melissa through the weekend.
Across parts of the island, especially the eastern side of the island, Melissa could be worse.
Melissa has been beaten up by shear to this point, but over the last 12 hours wind shear has lessened.
The environment should unfortunately continue to improve to allow Melissa to take advantage of some of the warmest water in the Atlantic basin.
Melissa is likely to begin rapid intensification later this weekend and is expected to strengthen into a dangerous category 4 storm as it approaches to Jamaica.
What makes matters worse is that the storm continues to crawl.
You might think that the slow-moving nature of the storm could help bring up cooler water, but in this case it won’t.
The Caribbean right now is not only blazing at the surface, the warm water extends way below the surface, so the storm is just churning up more fuel.
In addition to major-hurricane force winds, feet of rain will be possible from Jamaica to Cuba To Haiti.
This storm is NOT coming to Florida. A huge blast of cold air in time for Halloween will keep this storm well east of the Sunshine State.
Some social media posts have made it out to believe Florida was still in play. Make no mistake about it, the clicks generated by those posts make those people a lot of money.
Thanks for reading!
- Jonathan
Let me know if there is anything you want to see discussed in a future newsletter entry. My email is jkegges@wkmg.com.
Don’t forget to tune into the nightly weather livestream every Monday through Friday (NOW AT 9:30 p.m.) on the News 6 YouTube channel and ClickOrlando.com. Come with questions or comments!
Catch you soon!
Jonathan
Ways to stay connected this hurricane season
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We’re in this together. We have families here, too. You’re going to get the same info we give to them. Thank you for your trust. We don’t take that responsibility lightly.
OK, now I’m done.
Talk to you soon!
- Jonathan