Hurricane Melissa officially made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica at 1:00 p.m. EDT. The storm moved onshore over western Jamaica with sustained winds of 185 mph. The barometric pressure was at 892 mb at landall. That ties Melissa with the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 for the strongest hurricane (by pressure) at landfall ever recorded in the Atlantic basin.

Melissa has technically weakened somewhat after interacting with the mountains of Jamaica. Winds have dropped to 145 mph making it a Category 4 hurricane. Still very dangerous, and it’ll head for Cuba overnight with impacts to the Bahamas to follow Wednesday. Further weakening is expected.

A storm system over the eastern US is expected to keep Melissa several hundred miles offshore. Larger waves and higher rip current risk may linger fo

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