Power outage history
Cedar County Iowa
13hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
7th most of 98 in Iowa 2.0× 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 Cedar'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 3.4 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Cedar, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 6,196 | 69% | 9.0 d | 7.0 d | 692k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 4,146 | 46% | 22 h | 19 h | 30k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | Tornadoes | 3,739 | 42% | 26 h | 7.8 h | 27k |
| Jan 10, 2020 | Winter storm | 1,902 | 21% | 17 h | 11 h | 20k |
| Feb 12, 2019 | Winter storm | 2,252 | 25% | 23 h | 4.5 h | 12k |
| Sep 7, 2025 | No storm report | 1,855 | 21% | 5.5 h | 5.5 h | 8.7k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 1,512 | 17% | 5.2 h | 2.8 h | 4.5k |
| Dec 14, 2015 | No storm report | 1,864 | 21% | 2.8 h | 2.8 h | 4.4k |
| Jul 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,335 | 15% | 8.8 h | 6.2 h | 4.2k |
| Oct 18, 2016 | No storm report | 1,836 | 20% | 2.0 h | 30 min | 3.7k |
| Mar 25, 2023 | Winter storm | 788 | 9% | 7.8 h | 7.5 h | 3.6k |
| Jun 13, 2019 | No storm report | 683 | 8% | 5.2 h | 4.8 h | 3.6k |
| Oct 6, 2018 | No storm report | 1,967 | 22% | 2.5 h | 13 h | 3.1k |
| Mar 25, 2019 | No storm report | 718 | 8% | 4.2 h | 1.5 h | 3.0k |
| Mar 6, 2017 | Tornadoes | 879 | 10% | 7.5 h | 6.5 h | 2.9k |
| Feb 23, 2023 | No storm report | 515 | 6% | 9.8 h | 9.5 h | 2.7k |
| Apr 7, 2015 | No storm report | 1,385 | 15% | 3.5 h | 12 min | 2.5k |
| Dec 14, 2024 | Ice storm | 1,364 | 15% | 1.8 h | 12 min | 2.4k |
| Mar 20, 2019 | No storm report | 435 | 5% | 6.2 h | – | 2.3k |
| Aug 6, 2019 | No storm report | 417 | 5% | 5.8 h | – | 2.3k |
| Mar 12, 2023 | No storm report | 1,250 | 14% | 1.8 h | 1.2 h | 2.2k |
| Jun 20, 2023 | No storm report | 1,178 | 13% | 4.0 h | 30 min | 2.1k |
| Aug 13, 2015 | No storm report | 700 | 8% | 3.0 h | 2.8 h | 2.1k |
| Jul 4, 2020 | No storm report | 782 | 9% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 2.1k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Winter storm | 385 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 1.9k |
| May 16, 2025 | No storm report | 689 | 8% | 3.0 h | 9.8 h | 1.8k |
| May 28, 2018 | No storm report | 352 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 1.8k |
| Oct 6, 2016 | No storm report | 674 | 8% | 2.8 h | 2.8 h | 1.8k |
| May 7, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 629 | 7% | 5.2 h | 5.0 h | 1.8k |
| Mar 21, 2020 | No storm report | 243 | 3% | 6.8 h | – | 1.6k |
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 Cedar from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 83%
- No storm on record 9.0%
- Winter storm 4.5%
- Tornadoes 3.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Cedar
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| Corridor Energy Cooperative | Cooperative | 135 | 135 | 1.77 | 14.2 | 31k |
| Eastern Iowa Light & Power Coop | Cooperative | 92 | 79 | 0.93 | 14.8 | 20k |
| City of Tipton | IA | – | – | – | 11.0 | 13k |
| City of Wilton | IA | – | – | – | 10.5 | 12k |
| Maquoketa Valley Rrl Elec Coop | Cooperative | 138 | 63 | 1.03 | 13.8 | 11k |
| City of Durant | IA | – | – | – | – | 7.2k |
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 8,986 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 →