Power Out Map
– 0% of Nelson out 0 customers out in North Dakota

Power outage history

Nelson County North Dakota

The outage record here is too thin for a reliable yearly average. Raw events are listed below.

Worst outage on record Mar 19, 2022 41% of customers out · 90% back in 40 hours
Hours without power, average customer per year –h / yr State average 2.1 h · national median 6.6 h
Major outages a year – Peaks over 10% of customers or 50,000 customers
Typical time to restore 90% 2hours Median across major outages, from the peak
Longest single outage 40hours Mar 19, 2022, over 1% of customers out
Outage hours on storm days 20% Share falling on days with a NOAA storm report here
Worst year –
Electricity customers 1,239 ORNL customer model · 0 well-covered years

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 Nelson's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.

20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
0%100% of customers out

Year by year

Hours in the dark, per customer

Nelson, hours without power per customer

NelsonUS median countyNorth Dakota average
0 5 10 15 ’20 ’21 ’22 ’23 ’24 ’25 US 6.6 ND 2.1

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
Mar 19, 2022 No storm report 511 41% 40 h 40 h 7.4k
May 12, 2022 No storm report 410 33% 9.2 h 9.2 h 3.8k
Nov 7, 2024 No storm report 197 16% 6.0 h 6.0 h 1.2k
Jul 24, 2020 Thunderstorms 1,121 90% 3.2 h 2.8 h 1.2k
Jul 10, 2022 Thunderstorms 44 4% 24 h – 1.0k
Jul 16, 2025 No storm report 226 18% 4.0 h 10 h 904
Jun 20, 2025 Thunderstorms 157 13% 5.2 h 4.8 h 802
Jul 23, 2022 Thunderstorms 95 8% 8.0 h 8.0 h 760
Jun 7, 2020 Tornadoes 542 44% 1.8 h 1.8 h 586
Jul 11, 2024 No storm report 663 54% 1.0 h 1.0 h 528
Jun 4, 2025 No storm report 226 18% 2.0 h 2.0 h 452
Aug 8, 2023 No storm report 139 11% 3.2 h 3.2 h 452

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.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% peak+24h+48h+72h+96h half back by +4h 90% by +6h

When it happens

The outage clock

Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.

00061218 Jan inside

What was happening

Weather behind the outages

Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Nelson from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.

  • No storm on record 80%
  • Thunderstorms 17%
  • Tornadoes 2.5%

Who keeps the lights on

Utilities serving Nelson

As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole North Dakota territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.

Utility Type Outage min / yr Excl. major storms Outages / yr Residential ¢/kWh Customers
Otter Tail Power Co Investor Owned 575 132 2.03 11.1 45k
Nodak Electric Coop Inc Cooperative 321 104 5.40 12.7 21k
City of Lakota ND – – – 10.1 7.5k
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

Across North Dakota

Where it is darkest

Hours / yr64+

All North Dakota 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 1,239 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 →