As Hurricane Melissa made its way from the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean and towards Jamaica this week, it passed through waters the temperature of a lukewarm bath.

Just south of the island country, it hit waters above 30 degrees Celsius, where it rapidly intensified into a category five storm.

Hurricanes, or tropical cyclones, use warm water to gain their power; the hotter the water, the more powerful they become.

According to Climate Central, Hurricane Melissa travelled over waters made 1.4C warmer on average by human-caused climate change.

Climate Central scientist Kristina Dahl said Hurricane Melissa was "absolutely historic".

"It's going to go down as one of the strongest storms on record in the Atlantic," she said.

"It's also very clear that this storm bears the fingerprint

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