A gutted National Weather Service will have to deal with more tornadoes this year than last. Officials are worried

As nasty tornadoes popped up from Kansas to Kentucky, a depleted National Weather Service was in scramble mode.

The agency’s office in Jackson, Kentucky, had begun closing nightly as deep cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began hitting. But the weather service kept staffers on overtime Friday night to stay on top of the deadly storms, which killed nearly 20 people in the Jackson office’s forecast area.

It’s a scenario likely to be repeated as the U.S. is on...