Tropical Storm Melissa continues to spin in the central Caribbean this Thursday, packing 50 mph winds as it drifts slowly northwest. At the moment, the storm is battling strong westerly wind shear, which has pushed its thunderstorms east of the low-level center giving Melissa a somewhat lopsided look on satellite.

Even though Melissa looks disorganized today, that’s expected to change. The shear should relax this weekend, and the storm will stay over very warm Caribbean waters (a recipe for strengthening). Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say Melissa could rapidly intensify into a hurricane, and possibly reach major-hurricane strength early next week as it moves north of Jamaica and Haiti.

Melissa’s slow movement means heavy rain will be the main concern in the short term.

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