Hurricane Michael may upgrade to Category 4 when it strikes in Florida Panhandle

Hurricane Michael is expected to be near category 4 strength when it makes landfall in the Florida Panhandle or the Florida Big Bend Area, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Tuesday.

Currently a Category 3 hurricane, Michael is about 235 miles (375 km) south-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida, packing maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour (195 km per hour), the NHC said.

"Weakening is expected after landfall as Michael moves across the southeastern United States," the forecaster said. (Reporting by Karen Rodrigues and K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru)