Twenty percent chance of cyclone off Leeward Islands: U.S. hurricane center

(Reuters) - A weather formation about 1,700 miles (2,740 km) east-southeast of the Leeward Islands has a 20 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said on Thursday. Environmental conditions were expected to be somewhat conducive for development of a cyclone this weekend when the disturbance could be near the northern Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico, the center added in an a weather advisory on its website. (Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)