Local

Melissa forecast to become major hurricane in the Caribbean

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Storm Melissa continues to move slowly through the southern Caribbean.

The National Hurricane Center now projects that Melissa will strengthen into a major hurricane in the central Caribbean.

Melissa is expected to produce heavy rain across Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the next few days.

Coastal regions could experience between 8 and 10 inches of rain.

The storm’s track is still largely unchanged.

It will stall in the southern Caribbean over the next few days and will slowly move westward by the start of the weekend.

At some point early next week, it will begin moving quickly towards the Northeast, being steered by an incoming front and a center of high pressure that will move it through the northern Caribbean at a much faster rate.

As of now, it is projected to become a major hurricane by early Monday morning.

Other models are keeping it a bit weaker, but there is more uncertainty when it comes to the strength of the storm as of now.

Channel 9 will continue to monitor the tropics and provide updates on Eyewitness News

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