Power outage history
Park County Montana
5.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
20th most of 35 in Montana 19% 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 Park'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 8.1 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Park, 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 | 8,763 | 100% | 17 h | 6.5 h | 46k |
| May 30, 2022 | Winter storm | 367 | 4% | 43 h | – | 16k |
| Apr 21, 2020 | No storm report | 238 | 3% | 3.4 d | – | 9.7k |
| Nov 15, 2021 | No storm report | 1,926 | 22% | 4.2 h | 3.5 h | 7.1k |
| Aug 4, 2024 | No storm report | 386 | 4% | 20 h | – | 7.1k |
| Jan 13, 2021 | Windstorm | 1,851 | 21% | 7.8 h | 1.2 h | 6.1k |
| Aug 8, 2021 | Wildfire | 2,440 | 28% | 4.2 h | 2.2 h | 5.9k |
| Jul 17, 2022 | No storm report | 363 | 4% | 14 h | – | 5.1k |
| Jun 1, 2022 | No storm report | 1,086 | 12% | 14 h | 5.2 h | 5.1k |
| Mar 29, 2016 | Winter storm | 338 | 4% | 15 h | – | 5.0k |
| Sep 3, 2024 | No storm report | 539 | 6% | 14 h | 23 h | 4.5k |
| Jun 15, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 373 | 4% | 12 h | – | 4.4k |
| Dec 24, 2022 | No storm report | 3,804 | 43% | 1.2 h | 1.0 h | 4.3k |
| May 6, 2020 | No storm report | 1,150 | 13% | 3.8 h | 2.0 h | 4.0k |
| Mar 16, 2020 | Winter storm | 3,435 | 39% | 2.2 h | 6.0 h | 4.0k |
| Mar 25, 2024 | No storm report | 1,257 | 14% | 4.8 h | 8.5 h | 3.4k |
| Nov 22, 2021 | No storm report | 1,109 | 13% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 3.3k |
| Feb 4, 2019 | No storm report | 469 | 5% | 8.2 h | 9.0 h | 3.3k |
| Oct 22, 2020 | Winter storm | 352 | 4% | 11 h | – | 3.2k |
| Sep 18, 2024 | Windstorm | 736 | 8% | 8.2 h | 12 min | 3.2k |
| Jul 14, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,430 | 16% | 4.0 h | 1.8 h | 3.1k |
| Oct 10, 2018 | No storm report | 344 | 4% | 8.5 h | – | 2.9k |
| Sep 22, 2017 | Winter storm | 340 | 4% | 8.5 h | – | 2.9k |
| Aug 27, 2022 | No storm report | 359 | 4% | 8.0 h | – | 2.9k |
| Oct 13, 2016 | No storm report | 340 | 4% | 8.8 h | – | 2.9k |
| Jul 14, 2020 | No storm report | 98 | 1% | 30 h | – | 2.8k |
| Feb 6, 2020 | Winter storm | 1,639 | 19% | 2.8 h | 2.0 h | 2.7k |
| May 7, 2021 | No storm report | 674 | 8% | 4.2 h | 4.0 h | 2.7k |
| Oct 25, 2022 | No storm report | 360 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 2.6k |
| Aug 20, 2024 | Windstorm | 1,151 | 13% | 2.2 h | 48 min | 2.6k |
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 Park from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 56%
- Windstorm 22%
- Winter storm 16%
- Thunderstorms 3.8%
- Wildfire 2.3%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Park
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NorthWestern Energy LLC | Investor Owned | 125 | 117 | 1.10 | 14.4 | 334k |
| Park Electric Coop Inc | MT | – | – | – | 9.6 | 81k |
| Flathead Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 886 | 174 | 2.29 | 10.0 | 64k |
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
- Meagher 33 h
- Sweet Grass 7.1 h
- Park (this county) 5.3 h
- Carbon 4.9 h
- Stillwater 2.0 h
- Gallatin 1.9 h
- Park, WY 1.5 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 8,763 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 →