Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a hurricane today (Oct. 25) and a major hurricane by Sunday (Oct. 26) .

“It is expected to continue moving westward and the point that is just south of Clarendon, the centre of the island, is where we expect it to become a major hurricane,” said Director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson.

“That means it would become a category three or more hurricane, continuing to move westward and then it will take a move toward the northwest and then toward the northeast, passing the west coast of Jamaica,” he explained.

He was speaking during Friday’s (Oct. 24) special press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister to provide an update on the system.

Mr. Thompson noted that Tropical Storm Melissa, which is moving at 2km/h, is a slow-moving system that is expected to remain in Jamaica’s territorial waters into next week.

“It has already been here for almost a week and this is likely to continue for almost another week,” he said.

“It does have bands around it; a lot of rainfall associated with the system and that’s why we’ve been putting so much attention on this system, because if it does move in the direction of Jamaica, which is what is projected, it’s likely to create quite a disturbance across the island,” Mr. Thompson said.

He noted that as the system moves toward Jamaica, the Meteorological Service expects that it will move around the island, rather than directly over the island.

“That is what the forecast is. Of course, it is moving very, very slowly and so there could be changes in how the other climate features orient themselves and that will make a big difference as to how that track progresses. If high pressures move out of certain areas and low pressures move in or out, then we could have a complete change in the track that is projected of this system,” he said.

Original article can be found here