Power outage history
O'Brien County Iowa
2.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
57th most of 98 in Iowa 55% 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 O'Brien's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.6 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
O'Brien, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 2,415 | 48% | 22 h | 10 h | 17k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 864 | 17% | 14 h | 8.0 h | 6.8k |
| Jul 5, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,169 | 63% | 2.8 h | 1.2 h | 6.1k |
| Sep 17, 2017 | No storm report | 168 | 3% | 26 h | – | 4.1k |
| Jul 6, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 949 | 19% | 4.5 h | 2.8 h | 4.0k |
| Jul 23, 2025 | Heat | 762 | 15% | 5.2 h | 5.2 h | 4.0k |
| Nov 16, 2023 | No storm report | 768 | 15% | 4.8 h | 5.0 h | 3.6k |
| Jun 5, 2024 | No storm report | 759 | 15% | 4.5 h | 4.5 h | 3.4k |
| Jul 31, 2024 | Heat | 762 | 15% | 4.5 h | 4.2 h | 3.4k |
| May 6, 2024 | Flooding | 1,314 | 26% | 4.5 h | 4.2 h | 3.3k |
| Mar 5, 2022 | Winter storm | 395 | 8% | 40 h | 40 h | 3.0k |
| Mar 27, 2022 | No storm report | 643 | 13% | 3.5 h | 13 h | 2.3k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Flooding | 306 | 6% | 7.2 h | 1.0 h | 1.8k |
| May 16, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 397 | 8% | 9.8 h | 8.0 h | 1.6k |
| Jul 18, 2024 | No storm report | 108 | 2% | 15 h | – | 1.6k |
| May 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 861 | 17% | 3.0 h | 48 min | 1.6k |
| May 6, 2022 | No storm report | 826 | 16% | 6.5 h | 48 min | 1.5k |
| Jun 19, 2024 | No storm report | 519 | 10% | 2.8 h | 2.2 h | 1.4k |
| Apr 13, 2018 | No storm report | 1,477 | 29% | 1.8 h | 12 min | 1.2k |
| Dec 25, 2016 | Windstorm | 813 | 16% | 1.5 h | 30 min | 1.2k |
| Feb 28, 2025 | Windstorm | 767 | 15% | 1.8 h | 1.2 h | 1.2k |
| Feb 14, 2023 | No storm report | 506 | 10% | 4.0 h | 3.0 h | 1.1k |
| Sep 17, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 834 | 17% | 2.8 h | 2.5 h | 1.1k |
| May 12, 2022 | No storm report | 800 | 16% | 1.8 h | 7.0 h | 1.1k |
| Sep 18, 2017 | No storm report | 66 | 1% | 17 h | – | 1.1k |
| Aug 20, 2018 | No storm report | 510 | 10% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 1.0k |
| Dec 23, 2020 | Winter storm | 1,608 | 32% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 1.0k |
| Jun 17, 2016 | No storm report | 578 | 11% | 6.8 h | 4.0 h | 955 |
| Feb 7, 2019 | No storm report | 313 | 6% | 7.0 h | 4.2 h | 946 |
| Dec 2, 2019 | No storm report | 503 | 10% | 2.8 h | 2.5 h | 913 |
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 O'Brien from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 39%
- No storm on record 37%
- Heat 7.8%
- Flooding 7.5%
- Winter storm 6.6%
- Windstorm 1.8%
- Ice storm 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving O'Brien
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 |
| Osceola Electric Coop, Inc | IA | 452 | 103 | 3.79 | 10.8 | 34k |
| City of Hartley | IA | – | – | – | – | 11k |
| Iowa Lakes Electric Coop | Cooperative | 55 | 54 | 0.44 | 13.8 | 9.8k |
| North West Rural Electric Coop | Cooperative | 188 | 115 | 1.11 | 9.4 | 9.5k |
| City of Sanborn | IA | – | – | – | 10.3 | 7.1k |
| City of Paullina | IA | – | – | – | – | 5.1k |
| City of Primghar | IA | – | – | – | – | 4.7k |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
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 5,030 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 →