WEATHER SERVICE INVESTIGATES TORNADO REPORTS ACROSS AREA

The threat of severe weather has now shifted east, with a little more rain possible today and clouds decreasing tonight. A welcome dry Sunday is forecast.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service office in Paducah is conducting field investigations of the tornadoes reported during Thursday night's storm.

"Our main goal is to learn from what we go through," said Beverly Poole, meteorologist in charge of the Paducah office.

The office began issuing warnings beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday, and some didn't expire until 9 a.m. Friday. The storms resulted from the conjunction of abundant Gulf of Mexico moisture, unusually warm temperatures, and a low pressure center working up from Arkansas.

The frontal system drove the storms to continue long into the night. "You always need a triggering mechanism to keep the thunderstorms going," Poole said.

No deaths and nine injuries were reported in the Paducah office's four-state, 58-county service area. Six of the injuries are being attributed to a tornado that touched down near Wickliffe, Ky.

Yet unconfirmed tornadoes were reported in Butler, Stoddard, Scott and New Madrid counties in Southeast Missouri.

NWS workers were in the field Friday attempting to confirm the report of a tornado touching down at Thebes, Ill. Two NWS workers are going to be doing nothing but investigations, Poole said.

She said records show that tornadoes are not as rare in January and especially February as people might think.

"We try to teach people that tornadoes can happen any time, any place. People get complacent," said Poole.