Weather service: Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes possible Friday night in Tri-State

More rain is in the forecast for Friday in the Tri-State, and this time severe weather is a possibility, as well.

The National Weather Service's Paducah, Kentucky office, which handles forecasting for the region, released a severe weather outlook for Southwestern Indiana and Western Kentucky that's predicting severe thunderstorms and a low- to medium risk of tornadoes and flooding for the area starting Friday afternoon and going into Friday night. Damaging winds and a "few" tornadoes are the primary concerns for the weather event, the weather agency said.

The area is an "enhanced risk" zone for severe weather, according to the Storm Prediction Center. It is in the middle ground of severe weather outlooks, higher than a "slight risk" but lower than moderate- and high-level risk zones.

NWS Meteorologist Sean Poulos said Evansville is likely to be hit hardest during overnight hours on Friday.

Weather history: Looking back at the last 50 years of snowfall in Evansville and Henderson

This storm comes less than a week after high winds and large hail accompanying a cold front hit the area early Monday, producing four tornadoes in Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. In Murray, Kentucky, a tornado with windspeeds of up to 100 mph touched down, resulting in the destruction of three pole barns as well as structural damage to several houses and vehicles. Nearly an inch and a half of rain fell at Evansville Regional Airport during those storms.

Poulos said that, 48 hours out, "the ingredients" indicating possible tornadoes are present in this storm. While tornadoes aren't as common in the winter months as they are in the spring, they're not unusual this time of year, he said.

"We live in an area of the country where it's not really uncommon to see severe storms and tornadoes any time of the year," Poulos said.

He said anywhere from a half-inch to an inch of rain is expected to fall on the Tri-State, with a possibility of heavier rainfall in certain areas depending on storm movement.

Contact Ray Couture at rcouture@courierpress.com or on Twitter @raybc94

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: NWS Paducah: Thunderstorms, tornadoes possible Friday weather forecast