TRACKING THE TROPICS  Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a major hurricane as it moves closer to Jamaica and Hispaniola. See the latest track.

The National Hurricane Center is keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Melissa, which is expected to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane.

Tropical Storm Melissa is set to intensify this weekend, and Jamaica and other Caribbean islands are bracing for harsh weather, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Thursday morning.

The strengthening storm is most likely to approach Jamaica and/or Hispaniola late this week. In the days that follow from there, the potential path for the storm remains uncertain, and troubling.

The system, located in the Caribbean, is on track to rapidly intensify before the center of the storm moves near or just south of Jamaica early next week. Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather lead hurricane expert, described Melissa as a “slow-moving disaster.”

At 8 a.m. Saturday, the National Hurricane Center issued an advisory stating that Tropical Storm Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 160 miles southeast of Kingston Jamaica and 235 miles southwest of Port Au Prince Haiti. The system, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, is moving west-northwest at 1 mph.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is keeping a close eye on a tropical wave moving across the Atlantic Ocean.

Haiti has reported three deaths and six injuries caused by landslides and flooding as Tropical Storm Melissa continues to pound several regions. Civil Protection officials report material damage across multiple departments as authorities warn of more heavy rain,

Jeff Penner says we have an increasing chance of rain Friday into the weekend and possibly early next week. He’s also tracking a slowly intensifying tropical system in the Caribbean Sea.

A November tropical threat occurs roughly once every ten years, with the most recent strike taking place back in 2022 when Hurricane Nicole made landfall near Vero Beach on Florida’s east coast.