Hurricane Melissa makes historic landfall in Jamaica
ROANOKE, Va. – Hurricane Melissa became a record-breaking storm Tuesday as it made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica. At its strongest, the storm reached winds of 185 miles per hour with a central pressure of 892 millibars, marking one of the lowest pressures ever recorded for a landfalling hurricane. 10 News’s meteorologist shared that the devastation on Jamaica is severe, describing the situation as “pure decimation.”
After making landfall, Melissa weakened to a Category 4 hurricane, with top winds at 145 miles per hour as it moved north-northeast at 8 miles per hour. The hurricane is now projected to make another landfall in eastern Cuba, move near the southeastern Bahamas, and could approach Bermuda this weekend. There is no expected impact for Southwest or Central Virginia from Melissa at this time.
Cool, cloudy, and wet in Southwest and Central Virginia
While all eyes are on the Caribbean, folks closer to home are feeling an early taste of late fall weather. It’s a mostly dry Tuesday evening through much of the New River Valley, Roanoke, and Lynchburg, with just a few light showers showing up east of Highway 29, including parts of Appomattox, Charlotte, and Halifax counties.
Tuesday was marked with more dreary weather: the farther east you went, the wetter it’s been, while areas west stayed much drier…