Melissa is a hurricane for the record books, making landfall this afternoon at 1pm. It came ashore in New Hope, Jamaica with 185 mph winds and gusts up to 220 mph, making it one of the strongest hurricanes on record in the Atlantic Ocean both in terms of wind speed and pressure.

Pressure is the most common way to measure the strength of a storm — not just a hurricane, but any storm like nor’easters or a simple, weaker winter Alberta clipper. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm. The stronger the storm, the stronger the wind speed. So with the wind speeds produced by Melissa, it’s no shock that the pressure is in rare company. It’s a little reverse thinking because a lower pressure (a lower number) will put the storm higher on the list. Melissa is tied for third place for stronge

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