The strongest Atlantic storm on record was 2005’s Hurricane Wilma, with an all-time-low pressure of 882 mb. It hit that peak at sea while it was a Category 5. But it made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 and dealt a crushing blow to a large swath of the state.

Melissa is forecast to become the first Category 5 landfall in the Atlantic Basin since Dorian roared into the Bahamas in 2019. There have been 32 Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic since the use of satellites began in 1966, with 13 of those having formed in the past nine years.

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa has made landfall already in Jamaica and Cuba, as one of the strongest hurricanes to ever make landfall.

Melissa will bring heavy rain from the Mid-Atlantic to New England as it heads toward Bermuda and Canada. It leaves a trail of destruction in the Caribbean.