Tropical Storm Melissa had slowed to a near stop by Wednesday morning as it moved west-northwest over the Caribbean Sea at 2 mph, a snail's pace that weather forecasters said could bring lasting heavy rainfall and severe flooding on nearby islands in the coming days.

Located a little more than 300 miles southeast of Jamaica as of 11 a.m., Melissa was producing sustained winds of 50 mph and is expected to become the year's fifth Atlantic hurricane later this week, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

State Climatologist Jay Grymes said long-range guidance suggests that Melissa is not likely to threaten Louisiana or the Gulf Coast, though he and NHC forecasters said there is lower than usual confidence in the storm's future.

"There is significant uncertainty in

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