Hurricane Melissa roared toward Jamaica with destructive Category 4 winds Monday and was expected to strengthen further before making landfall on the Caribbean nation with up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain and a life-threatening storm surge.

Melissa isn’t Hurricane Gilbert or Hurricane Dean reborn; she’s amplified — her rapid spin-up is a stark nod to seas boiling 1.5 to 2 degrees warmer, courtesy of unchecked emissions that load her with extra fuel for those eyewall blasts and relentless downpours.

We have an order for three dozen frozen,” Stefan Seung asked a customer from his kitchen. The customer nods. In the same breath, Seung pops his signature Jamaican patties into a

At its current strength, Hurricane Melissa would be the strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica since record-keeping began in 1851.