Tornado watch issued for much of Florida

(CNN) – A tornado watch is in effect until 5 p.m. EDT for much of Florida, including Tampa, Sarasota, Gainesville and Jacksonville, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The alert covers more than 9 million people across the state. Some tornadoes, large hail and scattered wind gusts of up to 112 km / h are expected with some of the storms.

The threat of tornadoes will increase during the morning and afternoon, as the storms now moving through Florida and off the west coast of Florida continue to move east through the state.