NEW YORK (Reuters) - A tropical storm could form around Florida over the next day or two, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Wednesday in an Atlantic tropical weather outlook at 5:30 a.m. EDT.

The NHC said showers and thunderstorms were currently located over the Bahamas, central and eastern Cuba and southeastern Florida.

Over the next couple of days, the system could drift slowly westward over the Florida Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico where several of the key U.S. oil and natural gas fields and refineries are located.

The NHC said environmental conditions were unfavorable for tropical cyclone formation at this time but may become "somewhat more conducive for some slow development" during the next day or two.

The Center will call the next storm Beryl.

Elsewhere, the NHC did not expect any tropical storms to form through Thursday.