 By the next day, Michael had intensified into a hurricane near the western tip of Cuba, as it moved northward.The hurricane rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching major hurricane status on October 9.As it approached the Florida Panhandle, Michael reached Category 5 status with peak winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) just before making landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, on October 10, becoming the first to do so in the region as a Category 5 hurricane, and as the strongest storm of the season.