Power outage history
Shelby County Alabama
6.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
34th most of 60 in Alabama close to the national median
Every day since 2015
Eleven years, one night at a time
Each cell is a day. The brighter it is, the larger the share of Shelby's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2020 was the worst well-recorded year, at 23 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Shelby, hours without power per customer
The record
The biggest outages since 2015
Ranked by customer-hours lost: customers out multiplied by how long they stayed out. Times are local.
| Began | Storm | Peak out | Share | Lasted | 90% restored | Customer-hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 59,216 | 53% | 5.4 d | 3.5 d | 2.1M |
| May 27, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 39,965 | 36% | 34 h | 16 h | 370k |
| Dec 8, 2017 | Winter storm | 21,210 | 19% | 33 h | 28 h | 242k |
| Mar 25, 2021 | Tornadoes | 16,621 | 15% | 2.0 d | 43 h | 218k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 17,930 | 16% | 31 h | 28 h | 179k |
| May 29, 2018 | Tropical Storm Alberto | 10,544 | 9% | 14 h | 9.5 h | 62k |
| Jun 7, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 5,585 | 5% | 21 h | 28 h | 61k |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 10,011 | 9% | 13 h | 13 h | 57k |
| Dec 14, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 8,953 | 8% | 7.0 h | 6.5 h | 41k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 7,549 | 7% | 13 h | 3.5 h | 40k |
| May 4, 2021 | Flooding | 13,545 | 12% | 14 h | 2.8 h | 39k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,018 | 4% | 16 h | – | 37k |
| Aug 11, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 7,118 | 6% | 7.8 h | 11 h | 33k |
| Mar 30, 2022 | Tornadoes | 4,827 | 4% | 14 h | – | 32k |
| Dec 8, 2018 | No storm report | 6,340 | 6% | 11 h | 9.0 h | 30k |
| Mar 15, 2025 | Tornadoes | 4,690 | 4% | 11 h | – | 27k |
| Jun 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,579 | 3% | 12 h | – | 25k |
| Jul 21, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 4,848 | 4% | 10 h | – | 25k |
| Jul 9, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 6,479 | 6% | 9.5 h | 18 h | 25k |
| Dec 29, 2024 | Tornadoes | 2,052 | 2% | 14 h | – | 20k |
| Oct 6, 2021 | Flooding | 3,185 | 3% | 8.8 h | – | 20k |
| Jan 6, 2024 | No storm report | 3,789 | 3% | 9.2 h | – | 19k |
| Jul 12, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 5,342 | 5% | 6.2 h | 12 h | 17k |
| Apr 12, 2020 | No storm report | 3,914 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 17k |
| Aug 3, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 6,024 | 5% | 5.0 h | 4.5 h | 15k |
| Apr 18, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,398 | 4% | 4.2 h | – | 15k |
| Feb 17, 2022 | Tornadoes | 3,586 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 12k |
| Jun 20, 2019 | No storm report | 3,183 | 3% | 4.8 h | – | 12k |
| Nov 30, 2022 | Flooding | 3,332 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 11k |
| May 13, 2024 | No storm report | 3,944 | 4% | 4.8 h | – | 11k |
After the peak
How fast the lights come back
Each line is one major outage, from its peak. The amber line is the typical path.
When it happens
The outage clock
Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.
What was happening
Weather behind the outages
Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Shelby from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 55%
- Thunderstorms 27%
- Tornadoes 8.0%
- No storm on record 7.6%
- Flooding 2.0%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Shelby
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Alabama territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama Power Co | Investor Owned | 410 | 108 | 2.06 | 17.9 | 1.3M |
| Coosa Valley Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 345 | 209 | 2.43 | 16.9 | 16k |
EIA Form 861, latest year each utility reported. Outage minutes are SAIDI, the yearly minutes the average customer goes without power; outages a year are SAIFI.
About these numbers
Notes
Outages come from the EAGLE-I record of utility outage maps collected every 15 minutes by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Hours without power are customer-hours divided by the county's 111,917 electricity customers. Averages use well-covered years from 2018. Outages shorter than 15 minutes, and utilities that publish no outage map, are not in the record, so these figures understate the total. How every number is made →