Power outage history
Jackson County Iowa
2.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
66th most of 98 in Iowa 62% 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 Jackson'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 6.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Jackson, 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 | 1,072 | 10% | 2.6 d | 17 h | 45k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | Tornadoes | 2,111 | 20% | 45 h | 43 h | 21k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,827 | 18% | 20 h | 17 h | 13k |
| Jun 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 769 | 7% | 22 h | 19 h | 9.9k |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Tornadoes | 2,819 | 27% | 14 h | 9.5 h | 9.9k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 705 | 7% | 15 h | 15 h | 5.3k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | Winter storm | 771 | 7% | 4.8 h | 4.5 h | 3.0k |
| Aug 14, 2020 | No storm report | 147 | 1% | 17 h | – | 2.4k |
| Aug 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 476 | 5% | 5.2 h | – | 1.7k |
| Aug 23, 2025 | No storm report | 900 | 9% | 4.8 h | 4.5 h | 1.7k |
| Nov 21, 2022 | No storm report | 482 | 5% | 3.2 h | – | 1.6k |
| Oct 28, 2015 | No storm report | 532 | 5% | 4.2 h | 3.2 h | 1.4k |
| Jul 13, 2019 | No storm report | 749 | 7% | 1.8 h | 30 min | 1.3k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Winter storm | 503 | 5% | 2.8 h | – | 1.1k |
| Feb 23, 2022 | No storm report | 438 | 4% | 2.8 h | – | 914 |
| Jun 20, 2021 | Tornadoes | 236 | 2% | 5.2 h | – | 907 |
| Feb 23, 2023 | Ice storm | 244 | 2% | 8.0 h | – | 904 |
| Aug 13, 2020 | No storm report | 138 | 1% | 6.5 h | – | 890 |
| Mar 23, 2022 | No storm report | 484 | 5% | 2.2 h | – | 765 |
| Oct 30, 2023 | No storm report | 829 | 8% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 682 |
| Jul 4, 2021 | No storm report | 123 | 1% | 4.8 h | – | 584 |
| Sep 9, 2024 | No storm report | 615 | 6% | 1.2 h | 3.5 h | 547 |
| Jul 23, 2022 | No storm report | 161 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 523 |
| Jan 11, 2024 | No storm report | 1,023 | 10% | 30 min | 9.2 h | 512 |
| Feb 7, 2019 | No storm report | 197 | 2% | 2.8 h | – | 492 |
| Apr 24, 2025 | No storm report | 176 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 440 |
| Mar 1, 2020 | No storm report | 362 | 4% | 1.5 h | – | 407 |
| Feb 18, 2022 | No storm report | 388 | 4% | 1.0 h | – | 388 |
| Oct 16, 2018 | No storm report | 130 | 1% | 3.0 h | – | 387 |
| Aug 3, 2017 | No storm report | 194 | 2% | 2.0 h | – | 370 |
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 Jackson from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 58%
- Tornadoes 24%
- No storm on record 14%
- Winter storm 3.5%
- Ice storm 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Jackson
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 |
| Eastern Iowa Light & Power Coop | Cooperative | 92 | 79 | 0.93 | 14.8 | 20k |
| Maquoketa Valley Rrl Elec Coop | Cooperative | 138 | 63 | 1.03 | 13.8 | 11k |
| City of Bellevue | IA | – | – | – | – | 11k |
| City of Maquoketa | Municipal | – | – | – | 13.6 | 2.8k |
| City of Sabula | IA | – | – | – | – | 2.3k |
| City of Preston | Municipal | – | – | – | 13.8 | 502 |
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
- Clinton 13 h
- Jones 7.3 h
- Carroll, IL 5.9 h
- Jo Daviess, IL 4.3 h
- Jackson (this county) 2.5 h
- Dubuque 1.4 h
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 10,302 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 →