Melissa, with maximum winds of 70 mph and stronger gusts, should attain hurricane status later Oct. 25 and become a major hurricane by Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said Saturday morning. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when its winds reach 74 mph.

According to the National Hurricane Center's 4 a.m. Sunday advisory, Category 3 Hurricane Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 125 miles south-southeast of Kingston Jamaica and 280 miles west-southwest of Port Au Prince Haiti. The hurricane is moving to the west at 3 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.

After it lashes the Caribbean this weekend, there’s still uncertainty about where the storm will go next. Here are the scenarios, one day at a time.

Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane late Saturday, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica.

The NEXT Weather Team is tracking Hurricane Melissa as it spins through the Caribbean this weekend. Melissa intensified Saturday afternoon into a Category 1 hurricane. It will continue to strengthen before making landfall as a Major Category 4 hurricane in Jamaica on Tuesday.

The base commander on Saturday expanded a previous evacuation order to include “non-mission-essential U.S. citizens.”