(Reuters) – A low pressure area located about 280 miles (451 km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina has an 80% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday.

The system is forecast to move slowly north-eastward, well offshore of the southeastern United States, the Miami-based weather forecaster added.

(Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)