Understaffed National Weather Service Still Weeks Away From Issuing Kentucky Tornado Warning

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Published:

May 19, 2025

SILVER SPRING, MD—In the aftermath of the deadly storms that ripped through the central United States over the weekend, the National Weather Service confirmed Monday that due to critical staffing shortages, the agency was still weeks away from issuing a tornado warning to the affected areas. “We can’t say exactly when yet, but we hope to warn Kentucky residents that a massive, devastating tornado was headed their way Saturday morning in the next month or two,” said visibly overwhelmed NWS director Ken Graham, who told reporters that remaining staff members had gotten “a little buried” under three months’ worth of predictive reports about potentially life-threatening storms after the agency was hit with more than 550 layoffs earlier this year. “On top of everything, morale is pretty low right now, but we’re chugging along. While we’re optimistic we can put someone on the ground to monitor the weather conditions in Kentucky by midsummer, we have quite a backlog to worth through. Right now we’re trying to get the word out about a historic and fatal snowstorm that hit the Gulf Coast in January of this year. If you could help spread the word, we’d really appreciate it. In particular, the 11 people who died in that winter storm should exercise extreme caution.” At press time, the NWS had reportedly sent a volunteer door to door to visit piles of demolished homes in Kentucky and urge residents to get to their basements 72 hours ago.

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