Melissa is now forecast to become a major hurricane as it trends toward a concerning track

Tropical Storm Melissa swirls in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday. CSU-CIRA/RAMMB/NOAA

Tropical Storm Melissa is crawling through the Caribbean Sea, threatening to unleash life-threatening flooding and mudslides across parts of the region later this week. It’s proof this year’s Atlantic hurricane season is not over yet, and Melissa has plenty of time and fuel ahead.

Melissa was about 300 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was churning forward at an agonizingly slow 2 mph.

Heavy rain is already spreading north Wednesday as Melissa moves at a snail’s pace toward Jamaica and Haiti. A foot or more of rain is possible in southern parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic thro