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The office in Jackson, Ky., is one of several left without an overnight forecaster after hundreds of jobs were recently cut from the National Weather Service.
Forecast risk of tornadoes for Friday
By Judson Jones and Amy Graff
Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times. Amy Graff is a reporter on The Times’s weather team.
May 16, 2025, 6:16 p.m. ET
A National Weather Service office in eastern Kentucky was scrambling to cover the overnight forecast on Friday as severe storms were moving through much of the eastern United States, according to the union that represents the department’s meteorologists.
Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the union that represents Weather Service employees, said the office in Jackson, Ky., was one of four that no longer had a permanent overnight forecaster after hundreds of people left the agency as a result of cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, the initiative led by Elon Musk that is reshaping the federal bureaucracy.
Mr. Fahy said on Friday that because of the threat for flooding, hail and tornadoes facing eastern Kentucky, the Weather Service had to find forecasting help for the office.
A spokeswoman for the Weather Service said the Jackson office would be relying on nearby offices for support through the weekend.
Multiple rounds of storms passed through eastern Kentucky on Friday morning and afternoon, and the overnight hours were expected to be stormy. A line of thunderstorms was forecast to sweep the region overnight, whipping up damaging winds and large hail. There is also a chance for isolated supercells, long-lasting storms that can deliver even stronger winds and bigger hail than typical thunderstorms and also generate tornadoes.
