It’s confirmed — a 252 mph wind gust measured inside Hurricane Melissa is the strongest ever recorded on Earth. As National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hurricane Hunter aircraft flew through the storm in October 2025, they dropped a fleet of weather instruments called dropsondes into the storm. Such devices are parachuted through hurricanes to collect vital pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind information multiple times per second. Though many dropsondes sampled Melissa’s fury, an unprecedented 252 mph gust sampled around 800 feet above sea level particularly captured the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) attention.

Collaborating with the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR), scientists took on the task of verifying the measurement. Part of the process included running the data through quality control software and confirming that the data aligned with the laws of physics and the typical behavior of a hurricane. No discrepancies were found. The 252 mph wind gust surpassed the previous record of 248 mph from Typhoon Megi over the Western Pacific in 2010.

Verifying the measurement is important. For instance, even stronger wind data was collected during Hurricane Katrina in 2005; however, substantial issues were found in the data upon further analysis.

Accurate data is crucial when it comes to forecasting hurricanes and issuing emergency alerts. Dropsondes are unique in their ability to look at a slice of a hurricane in great detail, including what’s going on at sea level, where people and property are most affected. In the case of Melissa, powerful winds and storm surge inflicted catastrophic damage in Jamaica and Haiti. Although Melissa ended up claiming nearly 100 lives in the process, without accurate data feeding the forecasts, the death toll almost certainly would have been worse.

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