Melissa is moving past Bermuda and into the north Atlantic. It will become an extratropical cyclone later today.
After Melissa becomes post-tropical, a brief period of heavy rain and gusty winds is possible over the southern Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland tonight.
Maximum sustained winds are near 90 mph with higher gusts. Melissa is expected to become a strong post-tropical cyclone later today, with gradual weakening forecast over the weekend. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 265 miles. The estimated minimum central pressure is 973 mb.
With its landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday, Melissa officially became the strongest storm to ever hit the island nation and their strongest hurricane since Gilbert in 1988.
The storm was also one of the strongest ever recorded. Melissa tied the record for the third lowest pressure at landfall across the Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean with data going back to 1851.
Its peak winds of 185 mph tied for second strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf since 1851.
