Power outage history
Howard County Missouri
5.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
50th most of 110 in Missouri 20% 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 Howard'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 11 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Howard, 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, 2021 | No storm report | 1,415 | 34% | 12 h | 11 h | 11k |
| Aug 3, 2021 | No storm report | 420 | 10% | 23 h | 23 h | 9.6k |
| Jun 17, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,079 | 26% | 22 h | 18 h | 8.8k |
| Jun 3, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 983 | 24% | 14 h | 3.8 h | 8.3k |
| Jan 1, 2021 | Winter storm | 744 | 18% | 26 h | 15 h | 7.3k |
| Jan 24, 2020 | No storm report | 1,170 | 28% | 10 h | 6.2 h | 5.3k |
| Jul 20, 2019 | No storm report | 881 | 21% | 8.2 h | 4.5 h | 5.0k |
| Jun 16, 2018 | No storm report | 833 | 20% | 5.8 h | 5.8 h | 4.8k |
| Jan 12, 2019 | Winter storm | 746 | 18% | 18 h | 6.0 h | 4.3k |
| Jul 7, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,088 | 26% | 6.8 h | 4.5 h | 3.9k |
| Jul 3, 2016 | No storm report | 774 | 19% | 6.0 h | 3.8 h | 3.6k |
| Jul 13, 2016 | Flooding | 1,088 | 26% | 11 h | 10 h | 3.4k |
| Jun 13, 2024 | No storm report | 317 | 8% | 20 h | 15 h | 2.9k |
| Dec 16, 2023 | No storm report | 427 | 10% | 6.8 h | 2.2 h | 2.9k |
| Jul 14, 2023 | No storm report | 912 | 22% | 7.8 h | 48 min | 2.7k |
| Jul 16, 2024 | No storm report | 1,114 | 27% | 2.5 h | 1.2 h | 2.5k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | No storm report | 344 | 8% | 14 h | 12 h | 2.4k |
| Jun 6, 2022 | No storm report | 669 | 16% | 5.8 h | 2.8 h | 2.4k |
| Aug 7, 2016 | No storm report | 599 | 15% | 5.2 h | 3.5 h | 2.2k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | No storm report | 347 | 8% | 8.5 h | 5.5 h | 2.1k |
| Apr 22, 2021 | No storm report | 95 | 2% | 23 h | – | 2.1k |
| Jul 11, 2022 | No storm report | 422 | 10% | 5.0 h | 2.2 h | 2.1k |
| Sep 30, 2020 | No storm report | 76 | 2% | 27 h | – | 2.0k |
| Jul 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 383 | 9% | 7.8 h | 4.8 h | 2.0k |
| Aug 31, 2018 | No storm report | 830 | 20% | 4.2 h | 4.2 h | 1.9k |
| Sep 16, 2023 | No storm report | 506 | 12% | 4.0 h | 3.5 h | 1.9k |
| Dec 12, 2016 | No storm report | 792 | 19% | 2.2 h | 13 h | 1.8k |
| Jul 3, 2024 | No storm report | 610 | 15% | 9.5 h | 6.2 h | 1.7k |
| Mar 5, 2025 | No storm report | 582 | 14% | 11 h | 4.0 h | 1.6k |
| Jul 12, 2023 | No storm report | 600 | 15% | 3.0 h | 2.2 h | 1.5k |
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 Howard from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 80%
- Winter storm 8.8%
- Thunderstorms 8.8%
- Flooding 1.2%
- Windstorm 0.9%
- Ice storm 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Howard
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Missouri territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Electric Co | Investor Owned | 594 | 119 | 1.18 | 13.3 | 1.1M |
| Evergy Metro | Investor Owned | 178 | 99 | 1.50 | 13.6 | 276k |
| Howard Electric Coop | MO | – | – | – | 14.4 | 44k |
| Boone Electric Coop | Cooperative | 67 | 51 | 0.65 | 13.6 | 34k |
| City of Fayette | MO | – | – | – | – | 9.2k |
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 4,125 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 →