Power outage history
Shelby County Iowa
2.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
59th most of 98 in Iowa 56% 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 Shelby's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.5 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Shelby, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 19, 2025 | Winter storm | 2,018 | 28% | 29 h | 17 h | 22k |
| Apr 26, 2019 | No storm report | 101 | 1% | 3.9 d | – | 6.8k |
| Apr 26, 2024 | Tornadoes | 1,046 | 15% | 14 h | 4.8 h | 5.7k |
| Nov 26, 2015 | Winter storm | 1,017 | 14% | 14 h | 3.5 h | 5.7k |
| May 24, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 957 | 13% | 12 h | 6.8 h | 5.6k |
| Jul 20, 2024 | No storm report | 178 | 2% | 2.9 d | – | 5.3k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 638 | 9% | 18 h | 6.5 h | 4.9k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,065 | 15% | 14 h | 10 h | 4.2k |
| May 4, 2024 | No storm report | 930 | 13% | 5.5 h | 1.2 h | 3.6k |
| May 6, 2024 | Tornadoes | 639 | 9% | 6.5 h | 5.2 h | 2.5k |
| Oct 20, 2023 | No storm report | 1,540 | 22% | 2.0 h | 1.8 h | 2.2k |
| Jul 23, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 224 | 3% | 9.0 h | – | 1.7k |
| Sep 19, 2024 | No storm report | 390 | 5% | 7.0 h | 3.5 h | 1.4k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 394 | 6% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 1.4k |
| Aug 14, 2025 | No storm report | 206 | 3% | 6.2 h | – | 1.3k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 927 | 13% | 2.5 h | 2.0 h | 1.3k |
| Aug 28, 2015 | No storm report | 810 | 11% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 1.2k |
| Nov 11, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 297 | 4% | 4.2 h | – | 1.1k |
| Apr 8, 2025 | No storm report | 391 | 5% | 3.2 h | 9.0 h | 1.1k |
| Nov 1, 2023 | No storm report | 535 | 7% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 1.1k |
| Mar 8, 2024 | No storm report | 932 | 13% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.1k |
| Sep 15, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 281 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 993 |
| Aug 21, 2017 | No storm report | 398 | 6% | 2.5 h | 12 min | 984 |
| Jul 4, 2022 | No storm report | 392 | 5% | 2.5 h | 1.5 h | 979 |
| Feb 7, 2016 | No storm report | 161 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 966 |
| May 17, 2017 | No storm report | 450 | 6% | 3.8 h | 3.2 h | 936 |
| Aug 9, 2019 | No storm report | 281 | 4% | 4.2 h | – | 902 |
| Oct 29, 2024 | No storm report | 208 | 3% | 6.2 h | – | 899 |
| Apr 29, 2021 | No storm report | 303 | 4% | 2.8 h | – | 833 |
| Jul 2, 2022 | No storm report | 388 | 5% | 2.0 h | 7.0 h | 776 |
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 Shelby from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 51%
- Winter storm 24%
- Thunderstorms 16%
- Tornadoes 7.5%
- Heat 0.5%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Shelby
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 |
| Western Iowa Power Coop | IA | 27 | 27 | 0.27 | 13.5 | 69k |
| Nishnabotna Valley R E C | IA | 153 | 153 | 1.25 | 13.6 | 64k |
| Harrison County Rrl Elec Coop | IA | 52 | 46 | 0.53 | 14.5 | 46k |
| Atlantic Municipal Utilities | IA | – | – | – | 8.4 | 42k |
| Harlan Municipal Utilities | IA | 4 | 4 | 0.04 | 12.3 | 24k |
| City of Shelby | IA | – | – | – | – | 3.4k |
| 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 7,164 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 →