The sulfur dioxide (SO₂) plume from last Sunday’s eruption of Ethiopia’s Hayli Gubbi volcano continues its eastward journey, currently passing above southern Japan.

This has to be unheard of. With an extraordinary peak flash rate of 699 flashes per minute just prior to landfall in Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa probably set the record for the most prolific inner-core lightning outbreak ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane.

This is wild. Despite having fueled one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, the waters in the vicinity of where Melissa tracked remain sufficiently warm to support the formation of a major hurricane.

NOAA aerial imagery is coming in. Hurricane Melissa literally turned western Jamaica from green to brown. Vegetation damage is immense — recovery will take years.

With 40 cm of snow left on the ground last Wednesday, Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, officially experienced its biggest October snowstorm on record. This historic event shattered a 104-year-old record by 25 cm.

The fact that we went nearly 20 years without a sub-900 mb Atlantic hurricane and now we’ve had two in just the last two seasons.

Alrighty, ready to see something really cool? The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.

NEW: Devastating imagery from Jamaica, before & after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa. White House — Landfall point.

Obvious wavenumber-5 mesovortex pattern within Hurricane Melissa’s eyewall earlier today — when the simulation matches reality. Just two decades ago, the very existence of mesovortices was still a matter of debate.

#Melissa makes landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope as a powerful category 5 hurricane. For the latest updates visit https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb

A thread of videos from today’s flight into Hurricane Melissa In this first one we are entering from the southeast just after sunrise and the bright arc on the far northwest eye wall is the light just beginning to make it over the top from behind us.

Hurricane Melissa has just broken the record for the driest eye ever observed in a tropical cyclone, with a temperature of -4.75°C. This is nothing short of astronomical.

From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.

Hurricane #Melissa Advisory 24: Melissa Now a Category 5 Hurricane. Destructive Winds and Storm Surge and Catastrophic Flooding Will Worsen On Jamaica Through the Day and Into Tonight.

This is unbelievably bad. The warmth of the waters in the Caribbean Sea extends so deep that Melissa could remain stationary for days and still not upwell cooler water — 30°C over a layer extending down to 50 meters or more. This thing will basically have endless ocean fuel.

The International Space Station just flew right over the eye of Super Typhoon Ragasa. Spectacular view from space.

This is not normal. Japan is continuing its run of astonishing temperature records. The country has just had its hottest summer for the third year in a row, and by a substantial margin.

Here’s a 48-hour water vapor satellite loop of Ex-Hurricane Erin making its final approach to western Europe. Truly mesmerizing.

Before-and-after satellite imagery shows multiple large burn scars from the recent major wildfires in Portugal and Spain. Just terrible.

The epic size of Hurricane Erin.