Hurricane Melissa was one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the Caribbean.
The atmospheric and ocean conditions that led to the rapid intensification of the hurricane were made six times more likely by climate change, a World Weather Attribution study has found.
The storm grew from a tropical storm to a major Category 4 hurricane in a day, fuelled by warmer than average sea temperatures.
It eventually made landfall in Jamaica as a powerful Category 5 hurricane. It went onto make a second landfall in eastern Cuba a day later.
Days before it made landfall, forecasters were already suggesting that conditions were in place for the storm to intensify quickly, with the Caribbean Sea being around 1.5°C warmer than average.
The study also concluded that climate change led to increased wind speeds and rainfall.
Hurricane Melissa's catastrophic landfall in Jamaica is not an anomaly, it is the canary in the coal mine. When a storm can explosively intensify [in less than three days], we are witnessing the dangerous new reality of our warming world,” said Jayaka Campbell, Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
In Cuba, sufficient warnings allowed for the evacuation of over 700,000 people, but the damage to houses, roads, and agricultural areas set recovery efforts back for years.
With COP30, the United Nations Climate Change conference, starting on November 10 in Belém, Brazil, this serves as a critical reminder of climate change effects on vulnerable nations.
