Power outage history
Washington County Iowa
5.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
29th most of 98 in Iowa 19% 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 Washington'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 13 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Washington, 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 | 6,817 | 70% | 28 h | 2.0 h | 84k |
| Dec 14, 2024 | Ice storm | 2,632 | 27% | 29 h | 17 h | 31k |
| Mar 24, 2018 | No storm report | 3,410 | 35% | 13 h | 2.5 h | 26k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | No storm report | 3,147 | 32% | 16 h | 2.0 h | 13k |
| Sep 18, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,661 | 27% | 8.5 h | 5.8 h | 13k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | Tornadoes | 2,001 | 21% | 27 h | 3.5 h | 13k |
| May 24, 2024 | Tornadoes | 3,222 | 33% | 5.8 h | 30 min | 8.4k |
| Sep 13, 2020 | No storm report | 1,796 | 19% | 4.2 h | 4.5 h | 7.6k |
| Apr 22, 2021 | No storm report | 1,062 | 11% | 6.8 h | 2.2 h | 7.2k |
| Apr 26, 2018 | No storm report | 1,071 | 11% | 6.5 h | 13 h | 7.0k |
| Jan 27, 2024 | No storm report | 844 | 9% | 8.8 h | 8.8 h | 6.6k |
| Oct 8, 2024 | No storm report | 5,578 | 58% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 6.5k |
| Sep 3, 2019 | No storm report | 768 | 8% | 8.2 h | 8.2 h | 6.2k |
| Nov 21, 2015 | Winter storm | 1,407 | 15% | 8.8 h | 3.0 h | 5.2k |
| May 16, 2015 | No storm report | 1,361 | 14% | 4.8 h | 4.8 h | 5.1k |
| Jul 13, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,012 | 21% | 4.5 h | 4.2 h | 5.0k |
| Oct 7, 2016 | No storm report | 2,455 | 25% | 4.0 h | 2.0 h | 4.4k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Winter storm | 1,071 | 11% | 9.5 h | 4.0 h | 4.3k |
| Mar 21, 2025 | No storm report | 3,034 | 31% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 4.3k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | Winter storm | 588 | 6% | 17 h | 6.2 h | 4.3k |
| Mar 28, 2020 | No storm report | 2,302 | 24% | 3.0 h | 14 h | 4.2k |
| Mar 27, 2015 | No storm report | 2,460 | 25% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 3.6k |
| Jun 17, 2020 | No storm report | 1,068 | 11% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 3.5k |
| Nov 16, 2017 | No storm report | 1,068 | 11% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 3.5k |
| Jun 20, 2024 | No storm report | 1,255 | 13% | 2.5 h | 4.2 h | 3.1k |
| Aug 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 958 | 10% | 5.0 h | 4.2 h | 2.8k |
| Sep 7, 2020 | No storm report | 936 | 10% | 3.0 h | 1.8 h | 2.8k |
| Jun 24, 2020 | No storm report | 781 | 8% | 3.5 h | 12 h | 2.7k |
| Feb 1, 2015 | Winter storm | 842 | 9% | 3.2 h | 4.2 h | 2.7k |
| Sep 21, 2023 | No storm report | 607 | 6% | 4.2 h | 12 h | 2.6k |
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 Washington from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 50%
- Thunderstorms 31%
- Ice storm 8.8%
- Tornadoes 6.0%
- Winter storm 3.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Washington
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 |
| T I P Rural Electric Coop | IA | 156 | 156 | 1.33 | 11.9 | 82k |
| Waverly Municipal Elec Utility | IA | 7 | 7 | 0.14 | 14.1 | 41k |
| Eastern Iowa Light & Power Coop | Cooperative | 92 | 79 | 0.93 | 14.8 | 20k |
| Farmers Electric Coop | IA | 87 | 51 | 1.03 | 12.3 | 12k |
| Access Energy Coop | Cooperative | 83 | 83 | 0.77 | 14.8 | 8.9k |
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 9,700 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 →