WASHINGTON - US National Hurricane Center on Tuesday afternoon put out an advisory warning Tropical Storm Isaac has formed in the Atlantic Ocean and could grow into a hurricane over the next few days, which might strike Florida or pass close as the Republican Party convenes its national convention in Tampa in the US Sunshine state next week.

The Hurricane Center said in its advisory that Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft found that a depression has become a tropical storm, named Isaac, in the open seas about 500 miles (about 805 kilometers) east of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, and is moving West at a speed of 17 miles (27 kilometers) per hour.

It predicted that the storm could become a hurricane by Thursday, and reach Cuba by Sunday. As the storm nears the United States, it could move along several paths, from the Gulf of Mexico to east of Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.