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... Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in both Jamaica and Cuba in the last two days, followed what has unfortunately become a familiar pattern for major storms in a warming world.

The most catastrophic storms -- those with the most intense winds and soaking rains -- were once rare, but they are becoming more likely because of climate change. And similarities are emerging among these powerful hurricanes' behavior and timing, too.

Before Melissa hit Jamaica as a Category 5 monster, it churned over especially warm waters -- as did other hurricanes over the past decade. This allowed it to strengthen at blistering pace, becoming the most powerful of this year's Atlantic season and tying the record for strongest landfall ever in the Atlantic.

Then the storm slowed to a crawl, giving it more time to dump rain on Jamaica, another hallmark of hurricanes on a warming planet. Melissa's timing, too, was notable: It formed late in the season -- hurricane activity has typically been thought to peak in early September -- as ocean heat lingered into the fall.

Taken together, this behavior makes Melissa a kind of poster child for the new normal of hurricanes, experts said.

"These storms aren't the same storms as a couple decades ago," said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at the nonprofit research group Climate Central.

It's a shift with life-or-death consequences -- one that forecasters and officials in storm-prone areas are now watching closely. ...