The National Hurricane Center has issued major warnings in anticipation of Hurricane Melissa's landfall as a category 5 hurricane.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in western Jamaica on October 28 as a Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds, tying the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane as the strongest Atlantic landfall on record. Scientists say abnormally warm ocean temperatures helped the storm double in strength in less than a day — a sign of how global warming is intensifying extreme weather.

Melissa is the fifth most intense Atlantic basin hurricane on record by pressure and the strongest to make landfall since Hurricane Dorian in 2019, according to hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry.

Hurricane Melissa is grinding across eastern Cuba as a Category 2 storm after pummeling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in eastern Cuba early Wednesday as a Category 3 storm after pummeling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, the U.S. National Hurricane Center says.

As Hurricane Melissa made landfall, a daring team of aviators flew straight into the eye of the monstrous Category 5 storm. On Monday, a US Air Force reserve crew from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, nicknamed the “Hurricane Hunters,” shared videos and images of their flight inside the cyclone to collect vital weather data.

Hurricane Melissa is moments away from striking Cuba, where it is expected to make landfall after ripping a path of destruction through Jamaica as one of the most powerful hurricanes on record there.