Power outage history
Mitchell County Iowa
3.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
46th most of 98 in Iowa 43% 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 Mitchell's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2021 was the worst well-recorded year, at 10 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Mitchell, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,842 | 45% | 2.0 d | 39 h | 58k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | No storm report | 2,022 | 32% | 44 h | 28 h | 36k |
| Jul 27, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 795 | 13% | 13 h | 8.2 h | 5.8k |
| Jun 2, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,386 | 22% | 6.2 h | 3.5 h | 5.7k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 605 | 10% | 24 h | 3.8 h | 5.3k |
| May 17, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 337 | 5% | 14 h | 14 h | 4.5k |
| Apr 12, 2022 | Tornadoes | 1,456 | 23% | 7.5 h | 5.0 h | 3.7k |
| Jul 19, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,424 | 22% | 8.0 h | 4.8 h | 3.7k |
| Aug 16, 2023 | No storm report | 440 | 7% | 11 h | 9.8 h | 3.5k |
| Oct 7, 2016 | No storm report | 1,802 | 28% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 3.1k |
| May 4, 2024 | No storm report | 76 | 1% | 37 h | – | 2.8k |
| Mar 5, 2025 | Winter storm | 507 | 8% | 7.5 h | 5.0 h | 2.8k |
| Apr 27, 2020 | No storm report | 433 | 7% | 13 h | 13 h | 2.6k |
| May 30, 2017 | No storm report | 869 | 14% | 2.8 h | 13 h | 2.2k |
| May 17, 2019 | No storm report | 193 | 3% | 11 h | – | 1.6k |
| Aug 29, 2024 | No storm report | 459 | 7% | 5.5 h | 30 min | 1.6k |
| May 27, 2019 | No storm report | 697 | 11% | 3.5 h | 1.8 h | 1.6k |
| Jan 21, 2022 | No storm report | 307 | 5% | 6.0 h | – | 1.4k |
| Nov 23, 2018 | No storm report | 431 | 7% | 4.5 h | 9.2 h | 1.3k |
| Sep 6, 2020 | No storm report | 445 | 7% | 4.0 h | 3.0 h | 1.3k |
| May 15, 2022 | No storm report | 2,130 | 34% | 48 min | 30 min | 1.2k |
| Dec 24, 2020 | No storm report | 133 | 2% | 9.0 h | – | 1.2k |
| May 29, 2021 | No storm report | 289 | 5% | 6.0 h | – | 1.1k |
| Jun 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 483 | 8% | 6.8 h | 4.8 h | 1.1k |
| Aug 27, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 328 | 5% | 4.5 h | 5.0 h | 1.1k |
| Dec 14, 2025 | No storm report | 259 | 4% | 4.8 h | – | 1.1k |
| Mar 5, 2018 | No storm report | 502 | 8% | 2.5 h | 1.8 h | 1.1k |
| Jan 31, 2023 | Winter storm | 303 | 5% | 4.5 h | – | 1.1k |
| Oct 21, 2018 | No storm report | 270 | 4% | 4.0 h | – | 1.0k |
| May 5, 2017 | No storm report | 1,243 | 20% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 1.0k |
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 Mitchell from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 48%
- No storm on record 47%
- Winter storm 2.7%
- Tornadoes 2.3%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Mitchell
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 |
| City of Osage | IA | – | – | – | 10.4 | 15k |
| MiEnergy Cooperative | Cooperative | 102 | 86 | 0.86 | 17.2 | 6.0k |
| Heartland Power Coop | Cooperative | 117 | 67 | 0.92 | 12.8 | 4.4k |
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 6,347 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 →