"Due to Melissa’s slow motion, the risk of a prolonged multi-day period of potentially damaging winds, heavy rainfall resulting in life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides, and coastal flooding continues to increase for Jamaica," the hurricane center said.

According to the National Hurricane Center's 2 p.m. Saturday advisory, Tropical Storm Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 160 miles southeast of Kingston Jamaica and 235 miles southwest of Port Au Prince Haiti. The system is moving to the west-northwest at 1 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph.

Tropical Storm Melissa is nearly stationary in the central Caribbean, with forecasters warning it could soon strengthen and brush past Jamaica as a powerful hurricane.

Here's a look at where Tropical Storm Melissa is, where it's headed and the impacts it could have in Sarasota.

The National Hurricane Center's 2 p.m. Friday update reported that Tropical Storm Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 230 miles southeast of Kingston Jamaica and 250 miles southwest of Port Au Prince Haiti. Packing maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, it is tracking east-southeast at 2 mph.

U.S. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica Saturday as Storm Melissa reached hurricane strength, threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean.

The NHC predicts that Melissa could become a major hurricane as it skirts around Jamaica early next week. Here's how it will unfold.

Forecasters warned it could strengthen and swipe Jamaica as a powerful hurricane and dump a staggering amount of rain.

Dozens of people were already in shelters in the Dominican Republic, and schools, businesses and government agencies were closed.

Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a hurricane late this week as it crawls through the northern Caribbean. Hurricane watches cover southwestern Haiti, including Port-au-Prince, and Jamaica,