Power outage history
Cherokee County Kansas
2.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
51st most of 81 in Kansas 58% 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 Cherokee's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 3.8 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Cherokee, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 17, 2021 | No storm report | 552 | 6% | 28 h | 28 h | 16k |
| Jun 9, 2024 | No storm report | 1,642 | 17% | 10 h | 5.2 h | 15k |
| Apr 30, 2025 | No storm report | 673 | 7% | 23 h | 22 h | 11k |
| Oct 14, 2020 | No storm report | 4,837 | 49% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 11k |
| Oct 2, 2022 | No storm report | 3,221 | 33% | 3.0 h | 2.5 h | 8.9k |
| Aug 16, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 320 | 3% | 39 h | – | 8.6k |
| Mar 30, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 614 | 6% | 15 h | 4.0 h | 8.4k |
| May 20, 2019 | Tornadoes | 1,373 | 14% | 23 h | 14 h | 8.3k |
| Jun 22, 2018 | No storm report | 1,540 | 16% | 4.8 h | 4.5 h | 7.1k |
| Aug 5, 2023 | No storm report | 922 | 9% | 12 h | 2.5 h | 5.0k |
| May 22, 2017 | No storm report | 1,540 | 16% | 3.2 h | 2.2 h | 4.4k |
| Mar 14, 2025 | No storm report | 767 | 8% | 7.0 h | 5.5 h | 4.3k |
| Jul 13, 2023 | No storm report | 969 | 10% | 6.5 h | 3.2 h | 4.3k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | No storm report | 1,416 | 14% | 3.0 h | 1.5 h | 4.0k |
| Aug 26, 2017 | No storm report | 1,488 | 15% | 3.5 h | – | 4.0k |
| Sep 2, 2022 | No storm report | 3,221 | 33% | 1.2 h | 1.0 h | 3.5k |
| Mar 27, 2017 | No storm report | 581 | 6% | 6.0 h | 4.5 h | 3.4k |
| Jan 1, 2021 | Winter storm | 577 | 6% | 7.2 h | 2.8 h | 2.7k |
| May 19, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,399 | 14% | 2.8 h | 1.8 h | 2.6k |
| Jun 11, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 527 | 5% | 8.2 h | 16 h | 2.6k |
| Jun 12, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 611 | 6% | 4.0 h | 3.5 h | 2.3k |
| Oct 1, 2022 | No storm report | 3,221 | 33% | 1.0 h | 30 min | 2.2k |
| Oct 29, 2020 | No storm report | 464 | 5% | 5.0 h | – | 2.2k |
| Dec 21, 2016 | No storm report | 2,473 | 25% | 1.0 h | 48 min | 1.9k |
| Jun 7, 2025 | No storm report | 613 | 6% | 3.2 h | 2.5 h | 1.9k |
| Nov 3, 2024 | No storm report | 313 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 1.8k |
| May 10, 2025 | No storm report | 374 | 4% | 4.8 h | – | 1.8k |
| Mar 30, 2023 | No storm report | 772 | 8% | 2.8 h | 2.0 h | 1.8k |
| Mar 31, 2017 | No storm report | 1,198 | 12% | 1.5 h | 48 min | 1.7k |
| Jul 8, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,043 | 11% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 1.7k |
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 Cherokee from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 78%
- Thunderstorms 15%
- Tornadoes 4.6%
- Winter storm 1.7%
- Flooding 1.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Cherokee
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Kansas territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evergy Kansas South, Inc | Investor Owned | 244 | 84 | 1.39 | 14.5 | 306k |
| Heartland Rural Elec Coop, Inc | KS | 417 | 168 | 2.54 | 14.4 | 113k |
| Twin Valley Electric Coop Inc | KS | 384 | 93 | 1.59 | 17.0 | 25k |
| Empire District Electric Co | Investor Owned | 146 | 91 | 1.44 | 13.3 | 8.5k |
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
- Craig, OK 7.0 h
- Newton, MO 6.3 h
- Ottawa, OK 3.4 h
- Cherokee (this county) 2.8 h
- Labette 1.7 h
- Jasper, MO 1.7 h
- Crawford 1.1 h
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 9,878 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 →