Hurricane Melissa: How Climate Change Is Fueling More Powerful and Slower-Moving Atlantic Storms

Oct 28, 2025 12:56 pm CST

Hurricane Melissa demonstrates the growing trend of rapid hurricane intensification and storm stalling in the warming climate. Moving at just three miles per hour over abnormally warm Caribbean waters, Melissa transformed from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in under 48 hours, exemplifying how climate change is creating more dangerous cyclones with increased rainfall, prolonged storm surges, and devastating wind impacts on vulnerable coastal regions.