The National Weather Service in Paducah has confirmed that at least nine tornadoes touched down across the western Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri region Friday afternoon and evening.

The Jackson, Kentucky, office is one of at least four such facilities across the country that is so short-staffed that it is no longer routinely operating 24/7.

The National Weather Service confirmed an EF2 tornado touched down on Friday night. A tornado outbreak spanned across Kentucky with nine tornadoes, one touching down in Allegre and tracking six miles.

At least three emergency orders were issued in 2024; three were also issued in 2023, five in 2022, two in 2021 and one in 2020. A violent wave of Friday storms and a tornado has killed at least 19 people in Southern Kentucky.

A preliminary survey by National Weather Service Jackson suggests an EF-3 tornado struck Laurel County late Friday.

More severe storms are expected to roll across the central U.S. this week following the weather-related deaths of more than two dozen people

A violent, tornado-spawning storm system tore across the central US, leaving at least 25 people dead in Missouri and southeastern Kentucky as it cut a path of destruction through several states.