Hurricane Melissa is making its way toward Bermuda as a Category 2 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as one of the most powerful storms in history and, while the storm has weakened, it is currently making its way toward Bermuda.

The National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory Melissa is located about 215 miles northeast of the central Bahamas with maximum sustained winds around 105 mph with higher gusts, making it a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Hurricane Melissa tracker

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Forecasters said Melissa is moving toward the north-northeast around 21 mph, and is expected to continue accelerating northeastward during the next couple of days. A hurricane warning is in effect for Bermuda, as Melissa is forecast to pass to the northwest of the island later Thursday into Thursday evening. Forecasters said some slight strengthening is possible before weakening begins on Friday, Oct. 31.

Over the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, an additional inch of rain is possible, bringing storm total maximums up to 10 inches in the Bahamas. Across Bermuda, outer bands of Melissa's track may bring up to an inch of rain throughout the day Thursday.

Additionally, swells generated by Melissa will continue to affect portions of Hispaniola, Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands during the next couple of days, and will spread toward Bermuda later Thursday, causing life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, the NHC said in the advisory.

Hurricane Melissa spaghetti models

Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.

Local officials begin surveying damage caused by Melissa

Authorities in some of the hardest-hit areas, such as Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti, have begun rescue and recovery operations, but efforts were hampered by widespread power outages, communications failures and blocked roads.

The death toll was also growing across the region – with more than 30 deaths attributed to the storm in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic – as authorities continued to assess the number of casualties.

The devastation caused by Melissa drew an outpouring of support from across the world, with some countries pledging support in the form of cash, food aid and rescue teams. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States sent rescue and response teams to areas impacted by the hurricane.

How do hurricanes form?

Hurricanes are born in the tropics, above warm water. Clusters of thunderstorms can develop over the ocean when water temperatures exceed 80 degrees. If conditions are right, the clusters swirl into a storm known as a tropical wave or tropical depression.

A tropical depression becomes a named tropical storm once its sustained wind speeds reach 39 mph. When its winds reach 74 mph, the storm officially becomes a hurricane.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen & Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Where is Hurricane Melissa headed next? See path tracker, forecast

Reporting by Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect