Power outage history
Clay County Minnesota
0.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
53rd most of 54 in Minnesota 88% 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 Clay's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2018 was the worst well-recorded year, at 1.4 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Clay, 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 20, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,018 | 11% | 10 h | 8.8 h | 13k |
| Jun 20, 2021 | No storm report | 3,126 | 12% | 5.5 h | 5.5 h | 10k |
| Feb 13, 2016 | No storm report | 2,516 | 9% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 10k |
| Jun 20, 2025 | No storm report | 792 | 3% | 15 h | – | 9.0k |
| Jul 25, 2020 | Tornadoes | 937 | 4% | 8.5 h | – | 7.7k |
| May 1, 2018 | No storm report | 2,526 | 10% | 3.0 h | 3.2 h | 7.6k |
| Sep 2, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,673 | 6% | 6.5 h | 4.8 h | 7.2k |
| Jun 6, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,599 | 10% | 2.2 h | 1.0 h | 5.3k |
| Jun 29, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,562 | 10% | 3.5 h | 3.2 h | 5.2k |
| Jun 7, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,591 | 10% | 2.0 h | 1.8 h | 5.2k |
| May 23, 2023 | No storm report | 6,436 | 24% | 1.0 h | 30 min | 4.8k |
| Mar 19, 2018 | No storm report | 2,523 | 9% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 4.7k |
| Jun 8, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 728 | 3% | 5.2 h | – | 3.8k |
| Nov 29, 2017 | No storm report | 2,511 | 9% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 3.8k |
| May 4, 2016 | No storm report | 580 | 2% | 5.8 h | – | 3.1k |
| Jan 4, 2020 | No storm report | 564 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 3.1k |
| May 17, 2018 | No storm report | 2,527 | 10% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 3.1k |
| Dec 20, 2025 | No storm report | 685 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 2.7k |
| Jul 14, 2018 | No storm report | 568 | 2% | 4.8 h | – | 2.7k |
| Jun 13, 2017 | No storm report | 886 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 2.6k |
| Aug 4, 2021 | No storm report | 2,606 | 10% | 1.0 h | 1.8 h | 2.6k |
| Jul 13, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 388 | 1% | 6.5 h | – | 2.5k |
| Apr 2, 2020 | Winter storm | 749 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 1.9k |
| Jul 4, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 646 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 1.9k |
| May 18, 2018 | No storm report | 2,527 | 10% | 48 min | 1.5 h | 1.9k |
| Aug 12, 2022 | No storm report | 638 | 2% | 3.8 h | – | 1.8k |
| Feb 5, 2021 | No storm report | 584 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 1.8k |
| Nov 1, 2021 | No storm report | 583 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 1.7k |
| Jun 29, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 571 | 2% | 2.8 h | – | 1.6k |
| Aug 13, 2018 | No storm report | 886 | 3% | 1.8 h | – | 1.6k |
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 Clay from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 53%
- Thunderstorms 38%
- Tornadoes 6.0%
- Winter storm 2.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Clay
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Minnesota territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern States Power Co - Minnesota | Investor Owned | 226 | 115 | 1.38 | 17.1 | 1.2M |
| Red River Valley Coop Pwr Assn | MN | 81 | 81 | 0.62 | 12.7 | 86k |
| Otter Tail Power Co | Investor Owned | 557 | 136 | 1.74 | 11.3 | 50k |
| Lake Region Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | 227 | 121 | 1.55 | 13.6 | 27k |
| City of Moorhead | Municipal | 15 | – | 0.44 | 11.5 | 19k |
| City of Barnesville | MN | 1 | – | 0.01 | 8.9 | 17k |
| Wild Rice Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 688 | 259 | 2.67 | 14.7 | 14k |
| Hawley Public Utilities Comm | MN | – | – | – | 13.1 | 10k |
| 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
- Norman 6.7 h
- Otter Tail 4.5 h
- Richland, ND 4.2 h
- Wilkin 2.3 h
- Cass, ND 1.4 h
- Becker 1.1 h
- Clay (this county) 0.8 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 26,598 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 →