Power outage history
Flathead County Montana
6.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
17th most of 35 in Montana close to 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 Flathead'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.
Flathead, 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, 2025 | Windstorm | 23,250 | 35% | 4.2 d | 2.3 d | 570k |
| May 31, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 34,234 | 52% | 2.5 d | 37 h | 524k |
| Nov 2, 2022 | Winter storm | 16,122 | 25% | 2.8 d | 2.0 d | 375k |
| Jan 13, 2021 | Windstorm | 10,795 | 16% | 2.8 d | 2.3 d | 286k |
| Nov 23, 2024 | Winter storm | 16,911 | 26% | 32 h | 7.5 h | 114k |
| Nov 17, 2015 | Windstorm | 5,971 | 9% | 46 h | 38 h | 105k |
| Nov 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 6,546 | 10% | 39 h | 31 h | 97k |
| Aug 23, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 13,504 | 21% | 17 h | 12 h | 93k |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Windstorm | 4,709 | 7% | 30 h | 28 h | 71k |
| Oct 17, 2017 | Windstorm | 10,941 | 17% | 21 h | 8.5 h | 66k |
| Dec 15, 2025 | Windstorm | 6,204 | 9% | 16 h | 12 h | 45k |
| Nov 27, 2019 | Windstorm | 3,531 | 5% | 24 h | 30 h | 33k |
| Dec 22, 2022 | Winter storm | 6,542 | 10% | 9.0 h | 7.0 h | 32k |
| Feb 1, 2020 | Windstorm | 7,241 | 11% | 12 h | 9.2 h | 31k |
| May 7, 2020 | No storm report | 8,795 | 13% | 3.5 h | 2.2 h | 27k |
| Nov 27, 2025 | Winter storm | 4,041 | 6% | 15 h | 13 h | 23k |
| May 2, 2020 | No storm report | 10,342 | 16% | 2.5 h | 1.2 h | 19k |
| Feb 15, 2025 | Winter storm | 9,650 | 15% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 16k |
| Oct 4, 2024 | Windstorm | 5,036 | 8% | 9.2 h | 8.5 h | 16k |
| Mar 28, 2021 | Windstorm | 2,529 | 4% | 13 h | – | 16k |
| Aug 11, 2017 | No storm report | 6,435 | 10% | 3.8 h | 3.0 h | 15k |
| Aug 10, 2017 | No storm report | 3,333 | 5% | 8.5 h | 15 h | 15k |
| Nov 5, 2022 | Windstorm | 9,555 | 15% | 11 h | 48 min | 14k |
| Aug 7, 2020 | No storm report | 4,539 | 7% | 4.8 h | 2.5 h | 14k |
| Nov 25, 2024 | Winter storm | 1,130 | 2% | 15 h | – | 14k |
| May 24, 2017 | No storm report | 3,745 | 6% | 12 h | 6.8 h | 14k |
| Jan 3, 2015 | No storm report | 6,376 | 10% | 2.8 h | 1.8 h | 13k |
| Jan 19, 2018 | No storm report | 2,389 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 13k |
| Jan 17, 2020 | No storm report | 4,396 | 7% | 4.2 h | 3.0 h | 13k |
| Dec 20, 2017 | Winter storm | 2,705 | 4% | 11 h | – | 13k |
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 Flathead from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 41%
- Thunderstorms 21%
- Winter storm 21%
- No storm on record 17%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Flathead
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Montana territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Electric Coop, Inc | MT | 431 | 80 | – | 10.0 | 85k |
| Glacier Electric Coop, Inc | MT | – | – | – | 10.2 | 74k |
| Flathead Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 886 | 174 | 2.29 | 10.0 | 64k |
| USBIA-Mission Valley Power | Federal | – | – | – | 9.4 | 16k |
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 65,575 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 →