Power outage history
Buena Vista County Iowa
2.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
80th most of 98 in Iowa 70% below 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 Buena Vista's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 9.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Buena Vista, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 6,428 | 55% | 24 h | 12 h | 78k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | Heat | 3,558 | 31% | 13 h | 3.8 h | 14k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Tornadoes | 1,145 | 10% | 20 h | 19 h | 6.6k |
| Aug 30, 2021 | No storm report | 577 | 5% | 12 h | – | 6.6k |
| May 30, 2022 | No storm report | 2,363 | 20% | 3.2 h | 1.5 h | 5.0k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | Winter storm | 710 | 6% | 6.8 h | 7.0 h | 4.8k |
| Nov 10, 2020 | Ice storm | 1,936 | 17% | 3.5 h | 1.5 h | 3.8k |
| Nov 26, 2015 | No storm report | 1,328 | 11% | 4.2 h | 3.5 h | 2.9k |
| Jul 4, 2018 | Flooding | 615 | 5% | 4.8 h | 3.0 h | 2.1k |
| Jan 3, 2023 | No storm report | 1,905 | 16% | 1.5 h | 7.0 h | 1.5k |
| Nov 15, 2020 | No storm report | 1,056 | 9% | 1.2 h | 2.0 h | 1.3k |
| Nov 18, 2016 | No storm report | 635 | 5% | 2.0 h | 30 min | 1.3k |
| Jun 3, 2019 | Flooding | 402 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 1.1k |
| Dec 31, 2023 | No storm report | 686 | 6% | 1.5 h | 1.8 h | 1.0k |
| Apr 19, 2023 | No storm report | 680 | 6% | 1.5 h | 12 h | 1.0k |
| Jun 10, 2020 | Windstorm | 801 | 7% | 1.2 h | 1.5 h | 1.0k |
| Aug 28, 2021 | No storm report | 642 | 6% | 1.5 h | 30 min | 953 |
| May 9, 2025 | No storm report | 515 | 4% | 1.8 h | – | 901 |
| Nov 25, 2022 | No storm report | 513 | 4% | 3.5 h | – | 843 |
| Jun 21, 2025 | Heat | 619 | 5% | 1.8 h | 3.0 h | 787 |
| Dec 13, 2020 | No storm report | 347 | 3% | 2.2 h | – | 781 |
| May 12, 2023 | No storm report | 310 | 3% | 2.5 h | – | 775 |
| Mar 31, 2024 | No storm report | 239 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 774 |
| Jul 17, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 183 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 728 |
| Aug 25, 2023 | Heat | 542 | 5% | 1.2 h | – | 678 |
| Aug 5, 2018 | Tornadoes | 302 | 3% | 2.2 h | – | 642 |
| Dec 2, 2018 | Winter storm | 159 | 1% | 4.0 h | – | 618 |
| Sep 18, 2023 | No storm report | 308 | 3% | 2.0 h | – | 616 |
| Jul 31, 2019 | No storm report | 784 | 7% | 48 min | 48 min | 588 |
| Jul 19, 2024 | No storm report | 1,075 | 9% | 48 min | 48 min | 574 |
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 Buena Vista from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 53%
- No storm on record 20%
- Heat 11%
- Tornadoes 4.9%
- Winter storm 4.0%
- Flooding 3.8%
- Ice storm 2.6%
- Windstorm 1.0%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Buena Vista
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Iowa territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MidAmerican Energy Co | Investor Owned | 205 | 82 | 1.19 | 11.2 | 640k |
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative | IA | 39 | 39 | 0.56 | 14.0 | 49k |
| City of Alta | IA | – | – | – | – | 10k |
| Iowa Lakes Electric Coop | Cooperative | 55 | 54 | 0.44 | 13.8 | 9.8k |
| City of Marathon | IA | – | – | – | – | 1.1k |
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.
Next door
Neighbouring counties
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 11,607 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 →