After leaving a trail of destruction across Jamaica, eastern Cuba, and much of the Bahamas, Hurricane Melissa is now accelerating toward the northeast.
The powerful storm has weakened slightly but remains a formidable hurricane as it pulls away from the Caribbean and gains speed over open waters.
Bermuda now finds itself under a hurricane alert. Forecasts suggest Melissa could pass close enough today to bring the island hurricane-force winds. Even if the core of the storm stays offshore, Bermuda is still likely to experience tropical-storm-force gusts, rough surf, and bands of heavy rain sweeping across the area.
Melissa is being guided by an upper-level trough of low pressure stretching across the eastern United States — the same system that helped steer it away from the Caribbean. This steering flow will continue to pull Melissa quickly out into the Atlantic, preventing it from turning back toward land.
As the storm races northeastward, it’s expected to lose its tropical characteristics and transition into a post-tropical cyclone by Friday. Still, forecasters caution that Melissa will remain a powerful system even as it moves farther out to sea, stirring up dangerous seas and strong winds over a wide area of the Atlantic.