Hurricane Melissa inching toward Jamaica as chart-topping Category 5 storm. Maps show its forecast path.

Melissa was inching toward Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane early Tuesday — the strongest a hurricane can get — and was expected to bring “catastrophic winds, flooding, and storm surge” to the island before moving on to Cuba and the Bahamas, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned.

But Melissa, the 13th named storm of the Atlantic season, isn’t expected to have major impacts on the mainland United States, but it’s turning into the strongest Atlantic system this season.

Melissa’s forecast and path

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph as of the NHC’s latest update early Tuesday. Hurricanes reach Category 5 — the top of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale — when their winds hit 157 mph. 

Melissa’s center was about 135 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and some 310 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, as of the latest hurricane center update. Hurricane-force winds extended some 30 miles from the storm’s center and tropical storm-force winds extended 195 miles. The storm was moving ever-so-slowly north-northeast at a mere 2 mph.

“On the forecast track, the core of Melissa is expected to move over Jamaica today, across southeastern Cuba Wednesday morning and across the southeastern or central Bahamas later on Wednesday,” the hurricane center said.

“Some fluctuations in intensity are likely before Melissa makes landfall on Jamaica later today. However, Melissa is expected to reach Jamaica and southeastern Cuba as an extremely dangerous major hurricane, and will still be at hurricane strength when it moves across the southeastern Bahamas,” the center continued.

When Melissa makes landfall, peak storm surge accompanied by destructive waves is forecast to reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level in Jamaica and 7 to 11 feet in Cuba. 

The storm’s extremely slow pace also raises the risk of destructive impacts, particularly in Jamaica.

“The devastation is going to be so profound because the storm is moving slowly,” CBS News Philadelphia meteorologist Grant Gilmore said. “It’s going to remain at a very slow pace as it traverses the island. … All of the threats that a hurricane can unleash on an island, it’s all going to happen in Jamaica.”

Melissa could be the most powerful hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.

“The island’s terrain makes it even worse,” CBS News Philadelphia meteorologist Andrew Kozak explained. “Jamaica’s mountains force the air to rise, and that creates more rain.”   

The strongest previous hurricane to pound Jamaica was Gilbert in 1988, Kozak said. It killed 45 people and caused more than $700 million in damage.

Hurricane advisories

A hurricane warning is in effect for Jamaica and the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin and the southeastern and central Bahamas.

A hurricane watch is up for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

A tropical storm warning is posted for Haiti, the Cuban province of Las Tunas and for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Naval Station Guantanamo Bay said it was moving “non-mission-essential” U.S. citizens off the island in groups ahead of severe weather from Melissa.

Rainfall forecasts

Melissa is expected to bring 15 to 30 inches of rain to areas of Jamaica and 6 to 12 inches to southern Hispaniola (the island split into Haiti and the Dominican Republic) through Wednesday, with a total of 40 inches possible in some places, the hurricane center said. “Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” the center emphasized.

For eastern Cuba, total rainfall could reach 10 to 20 inches, with as much as 25 inches in some spots from Monday into Wednesday, which could result in “life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides,” the center added.

And total rainfall of 5 to 10 inches is expected today into Wednesday on the southeastern Bahamas, resulting in areas of flash flooding. 

In the southeast Bahamas, forecasters said, a total rainfall of 4 to 8 inches is expected Tuesday into Wednesday, resulting in areas of flash flooding.

“Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides are probable across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica,” forecasters said.

Above-average Atlantic Ocean temperatures, made worse by climate change, helped Melissa rapidly intensify into a major storm, according to climate scientists. That translates into stronger winds, heavier rainfall and a higher sea level rise, which would make storm surge more intense.

Preliminary data from Climate Central, a nonprofit group of scientists monitoring the effects of climate change, suggests that climate change has increased Melissa’s wind speed by 10 mph. 

“Climate change is fundamentally changing our weather. It does not mean that every single tropical cyclone is going to go through rapid or super-rapid intensification. However, in our warmer world, it will continue to increase the likelihood of storms going through rapid and super-rapid intensification,” Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist at Climate Central, told The Associated Press.