A life-threatening situation began to unfold Friday as a tornado outbreak spawned after nightfall across the South and Midwest.

From eastern Texas into Kentucky, over 16 million people across 9 different states found themselves in an area under a tornado watch Friday night. As conditions deteriorated, a handful of tornadoes under the cover of night created particularly dangerous situations.

Just before 7 p.m. CST, a large and extremely dangerous tornado was confirmed by spotters near Greenfield, or near Jonesboro, in the northeastern corner of Arkansas. In the town of Monette, 25 miles from Jonesboro, Region 8 News reported at least two deaths after the Monette Manor Nursing Home sustained damage associated with a violent and dangerous tornado that had tracked through the area.

Craighead County Judge Marvin Day reported “significant injuries” at the nursing home, with at least 20 people trapped and 5 people seriously injured, according to Region 8 News.

The newsroom was later forced to take shelter as the storms tracked through Jonesboro.

Farther north, the National Weather Service declared a tornado emergency for parts of southeastern Missouri, including Steele, Caruthersville and Hayi. As the storms moved across the state, employees at the National Weather Service office in St. Louis, Missouri, briefly took shelter as a tornado reportedly tracked south of the office.

A tornado emergency was also issued for Mayfield, Kentucky until 10:15 p.m. CST.

As of 9 p.m. CST, the National Weather Service had listed preliminary tornado reports in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.

The night had first kicked off with a tornado watch issued from Arkansas to Indiana spanning into late Friday night as the first storms of the day began to erupt. After a second watch was issued for parts of Illinois and Missouri just before 5:30 p.m. CST, the combined watches stretched across an area with a population of over 10 million Americans. The covered areas included St. Louis, Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri, and Springfield, Illinois, and continued to stretch throughout the night.

Some of these same locations just dealt with severe weather late this past weekend and earlier this week.

Power outages stretched from Arkansas, through Missouri and into Illinois, with over 75,000 customers across the states losing power, according to PowerOutage.US.

The three-year average from 2018 to 2021 for tornadoes in December across the U.S. is 47, according to the SPC. Some Decembers are more active in terms of tornadoes compared to others. In 2018, there were 66 tornadoes reported, compared to just 18 in 2020.

AccuWeather meteorologists remain concerned that the risk of severe thunderstorms may extend as far north as southern Michigan and northern Ohio late Friday night into early Saturday.