First came the weather service staffing cuts. Then came the tornadoes.

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National Weather Service meteorologists are hustling to keep up with the extra work load during the ongoing bout of severe storms in the Central U.S., some working double shifts to issue warnings and survey the damage from deadly tornadoes.

The Jackson, Kentucky weather service office is one of those down a number of employees, including its meteorologist in charge, since the Trump administration began broad scale efforts to shrink the size of the federal government.

As a storm system approached Jackson, in Southeastern Kentucky, on May 16, a few individuals agreed to work double shifts to make sure timely warnings continued during the overnight hours, said Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization.

The severe weather outbreak is among the first to challenge the weather service amidst growing concerns about staffing shortages as the busiest time of year for storms, hurricanes and wildfires ramps up.

Jackson is among dozens of forecast offices working with reduced staffing and one of four that began closing for several hours overnight as of last week, Fahy said. The Goodland, Kansas office, also hit by tornadoes and severe storms, is closing at night. So are Sacramento and Hanford in California, with weather monitoring duties during that period turned over to nearby regions.

Final surveys won't be complete for days, but preliminary reports show more than three dozen tornadoes in the nation on May 16-17. Of those, 28 struck in Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois, including one EF-4, and three EF-3s. EF-5 is the most violent category.

At least 26 people died, including 19 in Kentucky and seven in Missouri, state officials said. Dozens were injured.

At least nine tornadoes were reported by the Paducah, Kentucky forecast office, where two of the leadership staff are among the hundreds of weather service employees who have left the agency in recent weeks.

Five previous weather service directors wrote in a letter earlier in May that they feared there could be "needless loss of life" because of the staffing shortages. The Jackson office is among those short on meteorologists, and recently had one position listed as open for one of the transfers the weather service has offered to its employees to help fill shortages.

The weather service offices in Kentucky – Jackson, Louisville and Paducah – provided "forecast information, timely warnings and decision support in the days and hours leading up to the severe weather on May 16," including through official posts, social media and NOAA weather radio, the weather service stated in an email.

"As planned in advance, neighboring offices provided staffing support to the office in Jackson, KY," stated the weather service. "Additionally, the Jackson office remained fully staffed through the duration of the event using surge staffing."

Records show there were at least two meteorologists in the office issuing warnings and advisories in the Jackson office on Friday night. A preliminary report confirmed "high end EF-3 damage, with low end EF-4 indicators" in the Sunshine Hills area of London in Southeastern Kentucky.

Records show the Jackson office first warned of the risk of severe weather at least six days before the outbreak, then continued to warn of the potential throughout the week on its website, in social media posts and in conversations with emergency managers and the news media. A tornado watch was issued for the region at 3 p.m. on May 16.

A tornado warning was issued for parts of Wayne and Pulaski counties at 10:29 p.m. and a warning was extended to Laurel, Knox, Pulaski and Rockcastle counties at 10:57 p.m. when a tornado was confirmed over the Somerset Pulaski Airport.

Damage surveys continued on May 19. In the Paducah region, the weather service reported at least nine tornadoes including an EF-4 and two EF-3 tornadoes. A preliminary damage survey reported the EF4 had peak winds of 190 mph when it ripped through southern Williamson County, Illinois.

The Louisville weather service office confirmed that an EF-2 with winds of around 130 mph struck eastern Russell County.

Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for Paste BN, covers climate change, weather, the environment and other news. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.