Power outage history
Union County Iowa
2.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
78th most of 98 in Iowa 70% 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 Union'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 2.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Union, 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 11, 2021 | No storm report | 336 | 5% | 21 h | 17 h | 6.7k |
| Jun 7, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,046 | 46% | 7.8 h | 6.5 h | 6.6k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | Winter storm | 683 | 10% | 12 h | 4.0 h | 5.4k |
| May 24, 2019 | No storm report | 5,453 | 82% | 1.2 h | 48 min | 5.4k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,725 | 26% | 8.5 h | 6.2 h | 4.5k |
| Apr 26, 2024 | Tornadoes | 1,512 | 23% | 6.8 h | 3.8 h | 2.8k |
| May 28, 2018 | No storm report | 1,897 | 29% | 1.2 h | 3.5 h | 2.0k |
| May 13, 2021 | No storm report | 245 | 4% | 8.0 h | – | 2.0k |
| Jun 11, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 585 | 9% | 7.2 h | 6.2 h | 1.8k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | No storm report | 382 | 6% | 7.5 h | 5.5 h | 1.6k |
| Dec 23, 2017 | No storm report | 1,196 | 18% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 1.6k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 541 | 8% | 7.0 h | 5.2 h | 1.6k |
| Apr 23, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,158 | 17% | 3.0 h | 1.5 h | 1.4k |
| Jul 12, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 726 | 11% | 5.0 h | 6.0 h | 1.2k |
| Jan 4, 2021 | No storm report | 946 | 14% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.2k |
| May 21, 2021 | No storm report | 245 | 4% | 4.5 h | – | 1.1k |
| Sep 21, 2024 | No storm report | 423 | 6% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 1.1k |
| Jan 10, 2020 | No storm report | 582 | 9% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 1.0k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Winter storm | 465 | 7% | 5.5 h | 2.2 h | 974 |
| Oct 22, 2024 | No storm report | 1,911 | 29% | 30 min | 30 min | 956 |
| Sep 13, 2023 | No storm report | 223 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 941 |
| Sep 14, 2023 | No storm report | 221 | 3% | 3.8 h | – | 829 |
| May 29, 2018 | No storm report | 351 | 5% | 2.5 h | 4.5 h | 738 |
| Jul 31, 2024 | No storm report | 960 | 14% | 48 min | 12 min | 718 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | No storm report | 428 | 6% | 1.5 h | 1.0 h | 640 |
| May 11, 2018 | No storm report | 294 | 4% | 2.5 h | – | 614 |
| Jan 22, 2018 | No storm report | 304 | 5% | 3.0 h | – | 592 |
| Aug 3, 2021 | No storm report | 335 | 5% | 2.2 h | 2.5 h | 588 |
| Oct 24, 2024 | No storm report | 331 | 5% | 1.8 h | – | 579 |
| Nov 21, 2023 | No storm report | 361 | 5% | 1.8 h | 7.5 h | 542 |
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 Union from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 61%
- Thunderstorms 25%
- Winter storm 9.5%
- Tornadoes 4.3%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Union
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 |
| Southwest Iowa Rural Elec Coop | IA | 122 | 122 | 1.69 | 12.5 | 75k |
| Clarke Electric Coop Inc | IA | 113 | 96 | 1.33 | 13.4 | 69k |
| Farmers Electric Coop, Inc | IA | 90 | 90 | 1.63 | 13.8 | 67k |
| City of Afton | IA | – | – | – | – | 4.0k |
| 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.
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 6,645 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 →