NWS office in Eastern Kentucky reports outage with severe thunderstorms on the way
The National Weather Service’s office in Jackson, which covers most of Eastern Kentucky, is reporting an outage ahead of potentially severe thunderstorms Monday.
The outage is due to a communications failure, according to the NWS. As of noon, there was no estimated time for restoration.
The NWS office in Wilmington, Ohio, is overseeing the eastern Kentucky area during the outage, according to the NWS.
“This comms outage is impacting the availability of radar data, but the radar is working fine,” the NWS said in a post on X. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Despite the outage, the NWS meteorologists in Jackson should still be able to communicate with local emergency management offices, as the NWS office in Wilmington sends out messages and warnings, said Ron Steve, an NWS meteorologist in Louisville. The only weather service that may be disrupted by the outage is weather radios.
Erica Cei, a national spokesperson for the NWS, confirmed there are no interruptions related to weather alerts, forecast products and decision support to partners.
Steve also noted that the outage is an example of why people should always have multiple ways to receive alerts and updates about the weather.
The outage comes just hours before potentially severe thunderstorms sweep into the region. The NWS said a cold front is moving into the region Monday afternoon and evening, bringing potentially severe weather with it.
The southeastern counties of Kentucky east of Interstate 65 are under a slight risk (level 2 of 5) for severe weather, with the main threats being wind gusts in the 50-60 mph range and isolated hail, according to the NWS. There are chances of flooding from excessive rainfall, specifically isolated occurrences of high water or flash flooding.
Lexington is under a marginal risk (level 1 of 5) for severe weather Monday, according to the NWS.
Good weather is expected after the cold front and storms pass. The seven-day forecast for Lexington says chances of rain don’t return until Friday, with warm, sunny days expected before then.
It was not clear if the communication error was related to staffing levels, but all three NWS offices in Kentucky have been affected by staff shortages. Since January, more than 600 people across the country have left the NWS either through terminations or early retirements.
That’s the same number of people who left the NWS in the previous 15 years, according to information provided by the legislative director of the National Weather Service Employee Organization, a union that represents National Weather Service staff.
There are three NWS offices in Kentucky — Jackson, Louisville and Paducah. According to union officials, there are seven vacancies in Jackson, seven in Paducah and eight in Louisville.
There is no meteorologist in charge at any of the three offices. Acting meteorologists in charge, who often have other job duties, are now running those offices.
The NWS Jackson office is one of eight offices across the country that no longer have enough staff to work the overnight shifts from roughly midnight to 7 a.m.
The office was staffed overnight when a violent, EF-4 tornado ripped through its region, which includes hard-hit Laurel and Pulaski counties.
This story was originally published June 9, 2025 at 12:34 PM.
