iCyclone's Hurricane Melissa Report

[Boris Konon]

https://www.icyclone.com/s/iCyclone_Chase_Report_MELISSA2025.pdf

Main points:

• My location on the SW coast of Jamaica was well inside the RMW (radius of maximum winds) and got the eyewall’s inner right-front quadrant.
• The SE edge of the eye apparently grazed my location, temporarily bringing reduced wind speeds, improved visibility, and a marked shift in wind direction.
• My minimum pressure was 926.0 mb. While this might seem high, the report discusses how it actually makes sense, given recon data and the fact that I was probably a few miles from the absolute center.
• MELISSA's winds were absolutely ferocious—the most intense I've witnessed in 84 hurricanes. And the resultant wind damage was spectacular. This was a truly rare specimen.

This is a preliminary version of this report which I rushed to completion because of time-sensitive requests for the data. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be releasing an expanded version with plentiful damage pics.

Josh Morgerman
iCyclone

 

[Randy Zipser]

Here is some amazing video taken from a U.S. Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft as it was flying through the eye of Hurricane Melissa on October 27, 2025:

 

[Warren Faidley]

Glad Josh was able to get data that would have otherwise been lost. The very, very narrow high intensity eyewall was interesting.

I really beat myself up (initially) with not chasing Melissa. At some point in the process I figured it would move further west, which it did, taking it away from decent chasing infrastructure. I also thought it would be a night-falling storm, which was wrong. The lack of infrastructure with good vantage points was the right call. The most irritating situation for me as a hurricane chaser would be achieving zero footage while getting stuck at a location for days, or longer.