Power outage history
Woodbury County Iowa
1.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
86th most of 98 in Iowa 75% 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 Woodbury'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 2.8 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Woodbury, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 10,213 | 20% | 26 h | 21 h | 136k |
| Jul 29, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 7,310 | 15% | 19 h | 11 h | 48k |
| Mar 19, 2025 | Winter storm | 3,399 | 7% | 29 h | 30 h | 42k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,576 | 5% | 8.0 h | 8.8 h | 14k |
| Jun 13, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,287 | 9% | 3.8 h | 1.8 h | 13k |
| Dec 16, 2021 | Windstorm | 1,030 | 2% | 9.8 h | – | 9.3k |
| Feb 25, 2017 | No storm report | 6,252 | 12% | 1.5 h | 30 min | 8.5k |
| May 19, 2025 | Windstorm | 1,949 | 4% | 5.0 h | – | 8.2k |
| Aug 27, 2021 | No storm report | 3,457 | 7% | 3.0 h | 1.8 h | 7.7k |
| Dec 10, 2021 | Winter storm | 1,744 | 3% | 6.2 h | – | 7.1k |
| Feb 2, 2020 | No storm report | 6,138 | 12% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 7.0k |
| Mar 19, 2020 | Winter storm | 3,153 | 6% | 3.2 h | 1.8 h | 7.0k |
| Jun 24, 2024 | Flooding | 1,593 | 3% | 7.5 h | – | 6.5k |
| Dec 25, 2016 | Windstorm | 2,558 | 5% | 3.8 h | 6.2 h | 5.9k |
| Dec 22, 2019 | No storm report | 4,517 | 9% | 2.8 h | 2.0 h | 5.6k |
| Jul 12, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,320 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 5.6k |
| Apr 6, 2024 | Windstorm | 1,528 | 3% | 5.5 h | – | 5.3k |
| Sep 14, 2020 | No storm report | 512 | 1% | 9.5 h | – | 4.9k |
| Aug 11, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,323 | 3% | 5.5 h | – | 4.8k |
| Jul 6, 2020 | No storm report | 3,573 | 7% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 4.6k |
| Jul 10, 2025 | No storm report | 1,402 | 3% | 3.2 h | – | 4.6k |
| Dec 20, 2018 | No storm report | 5,264 | 10% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 4.5k |
| Jul 14, 2023 | No storm report | 2,227 | 4% | 2.0 h | – | 4.5k |
| Jan 18, 2024 | Winter storm | 1,631 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 4.3k |
| Aug 5, 2016 | No storm report | 2,536 | 5% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 4.2k |
| Nov 18, 2016 | No storm report | 2,560 | 5% | 2.0 h | 1.0 h | 4.2k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,277 | 5% | 2.0 h | – | 4.2k |
| Jul 29, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,207 | 6% | 5.8 h | 2.2 h | 4.2k |
| Nov 8, 2022 | No storm report | 3,182 | 6% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 3.9k |
| Jan 21, 2019 | No storm report | 1,338 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 3.9k |
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 Woodbury from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 45%
- Thunderstorms 25%
- Winter storm 20%
- Windstorm 6.9%
- Flooding 3.3%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Woodbury
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 |
| Woodbury County Rural E C A | IA | 106 | 106 | 1.01 | 14.0 | 57k |
| City of Sergeant Bluff | IA | – | – | – | 10.3 | 18k |
| North West Rural Electric Coop | Cooperative | 188 | 115 | 1.11 | 9.4 | 9.5k |
| City of Anthon | IA | – | – | – | – | 4.3k |
| 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 50,197 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 →