How Hurricane Melissa intensified into Jamaica’s strongest hurricane
Hurricane Melissa has become the most powerful hurricane to hit land in the Atlantic, wreaking havoc across four island nations. But just how did it become so strong?
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
You may have heard the news of one of the strongest hurricanes to have ever hit the Atlantic – Hurricane Melissa. At the time of writing, more than 30 people had lost their lives across the Caribbean after the powerful hurricane tore through Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and south east Cuba. When it made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday local time, Hurricane Melissa became the strongest hurricane to ever hit the Caribbean island nation and the strongest to reach land in the Atlantic. But what caused this hurricane to become so powerful? And how does it compare to the strongest cyclones ever recorded in Australia?
WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION
According to meteorology site Weatherzone, Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica on Tuesday local time as a Category 5* hurricane with wind speeds of about 296 km/h near its core* and a central pressure* of around 892 hPa. Its sheer power made it the third most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic.
“Hurricane Melissa was one of the strongest systems ever recorded in the Atlantic,” the site states. “Based on preliminary* central pressure estimates, Hurricane Melissa tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane* as the strongest landfalling hurricane on record in the Atlantic region.”
In the wake of Melissa, Jamaica was declared a “disaster area” with about 77 per cent of the population losing electricity while dozens were feared dead in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Jamaican government minister Desmond McKenzie said several hospitals were damaged, including in St Elizabeth, a coastal district he said was “underwater”.
Many homes were destroyed and about 25,000 people sought refuge in shelters.
Melissa was downgraded to a category 4 system as it passed over Jamaica’s north coast, Weatherzone said.
After Jamaica, the storm then headed to south east Cuba where it hit with maximum sustained winds of 195km/h, according to the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC), which urged residents to “remain sheltered” even as the storm left the island and headed north to the Bahamas and Bermuda.
On Wednesday, local time, Melissa was a category 2 storm with winds reaching 160km/h. It was set to hit the Bahamas on Wednesday night, local time.
WHAT MADE MELISSA SO POWERFUL?
The perfect storm of conditions was in place for a hurricane to build in power and strength as Melissa headed towards Jamaica, according to Weatherzone’s analysis.
For a hurricane to intensify, three main ingredients need to be in place, the site states. There needs to be warm sea surface temperatures to provide energy, a low vertical wind shear* – which means “wind speed and direction don’t change much with height” – and there also needs to be a good outflow of air at the top level of the weather system.
“Melissa encountered an ideal environment for cyclone intensification as it traversed* the Caribbean Sea in the last few days,” the explainer states. “Wind shear was low, there was good outflow in the upper-levels and sea surface temperatures were close to 30°C, more than 1°C warmer than average for this time of year and well above the 26.5°C threshold* required for hurricane formation.”
THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Scientists have warned climate change has created warmer sea surface temperatures that create more energy in storms, boosting their intensity with stronger winds and more rain.
“Human-caused climate change is making all of the worst aspects of Hurricane Melissa even worse,” said climate scientist Daniel Gilford.
King Charles III, who is the head of state of Jamaica and other Commonwealth nations including Australia, said the destruction caused by Melissa was “heartbreaking”.
In a message on social media, the King said he and Queen Camilla were “profoundly saddened to see the catastrophic damage caused by the ferocity of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and across the Caribbean”.
“This most dreadful of record-breaking storms reminds us of the increasingly urgent need to restore the balance and harmony of nature for the sake of all those whose lives and livelihoods may have been shattered by this heartbreaking disaster,” he said.
WHAT WERE AUSTRALIA’S STRONGEST CYCLONES?
Australia has never had a cyclone as strong as Hurricane Melissa. While named differently depending on where in the world they form, hurricanes and cyclones are essentially the same type of storm.
Weatherzone cites Tropical Cyclone Gwenda* in 1999 and Tropical Cyclone Inigo* in 2003 as the strongest cyclones on record in Australia, both of which had a central pressure of 900 hPa peak intensity.
“When Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica on Tuesday, it was more powerful than any tropical cyclone that has been recorded in the Australian region,” the site states.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- Category 5: the strongest category of hurricane in the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, where catastrophic damage will occur and wind speeds are 252km/h or higher
- core: centre
- central pressure: the atmospheric pressure at the centre of a hurricane. The lower the pressure, the stronger the hurricane tends to be
- preliminary: early
- 1935 Labor Day hurricane: one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit land in the US, striking Florida on Labor Day in 1935 and lasting 10 days. It had wind speeds of up to 296km/h and a storm surge of 6m. More than 400 people died as a result of this devastating hurricane
- wind shear: a change in wind speed and direction over a short distance
- traversed: travelled
- threshold: minimum level
- Tropical Cyclone Gwenda: a cyclone that was the most intense storm worldwide in 1999 and Australia’s strongest cyclone tied with Inigo. Gwenda had wind speeds that reached 225km/h while still at sea and was considered a Category 5 storm, the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. It made landfall near Port Headland, WA with winds of 100km/h after weakening significantly. It quickly dissipated shortly after
- Tropical Cyclone Inigo: a small cyclone that developed into one of Australia’s strongest cyclones, tied with Gwenda, except Inigo weakened quickly as it approached the mainland and didn’t cause damage in Australia. It did however cause millions of dollars in damage in Indonesia as well as the loss of at least 50 lives
EXTRA READING
School’s out before Alfred’s arrival
Why experts called for first ‘Cat 6’
How do cyclones get their names?
QUICK QUIZ
1. What storm rating was Hurricane Melissa when it made landfall in Jamaica?
2. Which other countries did the hurricane hit?
3. Which three ingredients need to be in place for a hurricane to intensify?
4. In what way is climate change making hurricanes more intense?
5. What were the strongest cyclones on record in Australia?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Which category?
What information do you think scientists use to decide the category of a hurricane? Brainstorm ideas, using information from the story to help you.
Time: allow at least 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Geography
2. Extension
Create a diagram that shows how and why hurricanes develop. Use information from the story and perhaps your research skills to help you.
Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Geography, Science
VCOP ACTIVITY
Wow word recycle
There are plenty of wow words (ambitious pieces of vocabulary) being used in the article. Some are in the glossary, but there might be extra ones from the article that you think are exceptional as well.
Identify all the words in the article that you think are not common words, and particularly good choices for the writer to have chosen.
Select three words you have highlighted to recycle into your own sentences.
If any of the words you identified are not in the glossary, write up your own glossary for them.
Extension
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any base words with more specific synonyms?
Down-level for a younger audience. Find a sentence in the article that is high level. Now rewrite it for a younger audience so they can understand the words without using the glossary.