Overview
- Hurricane Committee members removed the name "Melissa" from future Atlantic lists and chose "Molly" as the replacement, first eligible to appear in 2031.
- The National Hurricane Center’s final Tropical Cyclone Report raised Melissa’s peak 1‑minute sustained winds to 190 mph, tying Hurricane Allen for the strongest on record in the Atlantic.
- At Jamaica landfall, maximum sustained winds were 185 mph, tying the strongest Atlantic landfalls on record with the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane and 2019’s Dorian.
- A Hurricane Hunter dropsonde measured a 252 mph gust inside Melissa, a record for the expendable instrument according to the NHC report.
- At least 95 deaths were attributed to the storm across the Caribbean, including 45 in Jamaica, with damage in Jamaica alone estimated at a minimum of $8.8 billion.