Michael has intensified into a hurricane and the National Weather Service has issued a hurricane watch for most of the Florida Panhandle and the Big Bend.
Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties are included in the hurricane watch.
At 11 a.m. Michael was about 50 miles south of the western tip of Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. Movement was to the north at 7 mph and the central pressure was 982 millibars