Tropical storm warning threatens Manning, daCosta Cup quarterfinal kick-off

There is a strong possibility that matches in the quarterfinal round of the ISSA Manning and daCosta Cup schoolboy football competitions will have to be rescheduled because of adverse weather conditions.

The quarterfinal round of both competitions is set to begin on Tuesday, with two matches in Group A of the rural daCosta Cup - St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) vs McGrath High at STETHS and Glenmuir High vs Frome High at Glenmuir High. Two more matches in the opening round of the quarterfinals are down for contention on Wednesday, with Munro College vs Ocho Rios High at Munro College and Central High vs Garvey Maceo High at Wembley Excellence Centre. The latter games involve teams in Group B.

For the urban area Manning Cup, four matches are slated for Tuesday, with Mona High vs Jamaica College at Calabar High School and Kingston College vs Tivoli Gardens High at Stadium East, in Zone A fixtures. In Zone B, Excelsior High are scheduled to face Hydel High at Jamaica College, and St Catherine High vs Campion College at Spanish Town Prison Oval.

However, at 8 p.m. on Sunday a weather update was released stating that, "A tropical storm warning is now in effect for Jamaica as the Area of Low Pressure over the west-central Caribbean Sea becomes better organised while moving closer to the island and has the potential to develop into a tropical cyclone by Monday morning.

"This means that tropical storm conditions pose a possible threat to Jamaica within 36 hours," it said.

The release stated that this system was expected to become a tropical depression last night and steady strengthening is forecast.

On the forecast track, it said "the centre of the system is expected to continue moving towards Jamaica tonight (last night) and be near Jamaica by late Monday evening, and near or over the Cayman Islands Tuesday and Wednesday.

"While the potential tropical cyclone is in the vicinity of Jamaica, it is expected to produce locally heavy rainfall and strong, gusty winds, primarily over eastern and southern parishes."