Hurricane Melissa is tearing through the Caribbean, bringing record-breaking wind and torrential rain to Jamaica—the island’s first ever category-5 landfall. What makes Melissa so alarming isn’t just its size and strength, but the speed with which it became so powerful. In a single day, it exploded from a moderate storm into a major hurricane with 170mph winds.
Tropical cyclones, including hurricanes and typhoons, rank among the most costly natural hazards. Recent research has revealed an increasing trend in the destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the last few decades, and highlighted the fact that socioeconomically underprivileged populations are disproportionately exposed to their impacts. Simulating realistic tropical cyclones is therefore a vital ambition in weather and climate modelling.
