This image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on October 26, 2025, shows the “brightness temperature” at the top of Hurricane Melissa as it barreled through the Caribbean Sea toward Jamaica, where it made landfall on Oct. 28, 2025.
Classified as a Category 5 storm by the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Melissa is the world’s strongest storm so far in 2025.
The brightness temperature of the clouds at the top of the storm, high above the ocean, range from about -75°C near the eye of the storm to about -25°C at the edges. The temperature of the surrounding ocean is much warmer, reaching as high as 25°C. This image has been overlaid with the landmasses below.
Image Credit: Contains modified Copernicus data (2025), processed by ESA
