Power outage history
Washoe County Nevada
4.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
6th most of 12 in Nevada 36% 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 Washoe'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 8.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Washoe, 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 31, 2022 | Winter storm | 49,287 | 20% | 3.5 d | 47 h | 1.1M |
| Sep 7, 2024 | Wildfire | 17,939 | 7% | 2.9 d | 3.3 d | 414k |
| Nov 9, 2015 | Winter storm | 35,926 | 15% | 37 h | 17 h | 383k |
| Aug 11, 2024 | No storm report | 25,374 | 10% | 22 h | 21 h | 156k |
| Nov 20, 2024 | Windstorm | 15,192 | 6% | 13 h | 11 h | 135k |
| Jan 11, 2017 | Winter storm | 12,038 | 5% | 22 h | 24 h | 123k |
| Mar 1, 2024 | No storm report | 11,609 | 5% | 15 h | 19 h | 106k |
| Nov 5, 2025 | Windstorm | 26,639 | 11% | 8.5 h | 5.8 h | 103k |
| Jan 6, 2019 | Winter storm | 7,058 | 3% | 15 h | 13 h | 66k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | Windstorm | 12,660 | 5% | 7.2 h | 5.2 h | 62k |
| Jan 13, 2024 | Winter storm | 7,465 | 3% | 9.8 h | 19 h | 62k |
| Jan 17, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 10,254 | 4% | 10 h | 5.0 h | 61k |
| Nov 9, 2017 | Windstorm | 8,839 | 4% | 8.2 h | 5.2 h | 55k |
| Nov 15, 2017 | Windstorm | 9,272 | 4% | 6.8 h | 12 min | 52k |
| Oct 14, 2016 | Wildfire | 14,306 | 6% | 5.5 h | 8.0 h | 45k |
| Aug 14, 2022 | No storm report | 6,405 | 3% | 6.2 h | 6.2 h | 40k |
| Aug 2, 2025 | No storm report | 7,716 | 3% | 7.8 h | 7.5 h | 37k |
| Nov 26, 2017 | Windstorm | 6,002 | 2% | 6.0 h | 1.2 h | 35k |
| Feb 4, 2023 | Winter storm | 10,774 | 4% | 3.5 h | 3.2 h | 33k |
| Jan 5, 2022 | No storm report | 7,092 | 3% | 8.2 h | 3.8 h | 33k |
| Feb 25, 2019 | No storm report | 6,165 | 3% | 8.2 h | 30 min | 33k |
| Feb 26, 2019 | No storm report | 10,835 | 4% | 3.0 h | 2.8 h | 32k |
| Sep 29, 2023 | No storm report | 6,433 | 3% | 7.2 h | 13 h | 32k |
| Jun 10, 2025 | No storm report | 8,053 | 3% | 11 h | 22 h | 31k |
| Feb 2, 2025 | No storm report | 9,595 | 4% | 6.0 h | 11 h | 30k |
| Dec 24, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 9,054 | 4% | 4.5 h | 4.5 h | 29k |
| Nov 17, 2020 | Windstorm | 9,264 | 4% | 5.2 h | 8.8 h | 29k |
| Jun 28, 2021 | No storm report | 9,816 | 4% | 5.2 h | 4.0 h | 28k |
| Feb 28, 2019 | No storm report | 4,773 | 2% | 7.2 h | – | 26k |
| Jun 25, 2024 | No storm report | 5,902 | 2% | 5.0 h | 2.5 h | 24k |
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 Washoe from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 42%
- Winter storm 31%
- Windstorm 12%
- Wildfire 10%
- Thunderstorms 4.8%
- Flooding 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Washoe
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Nevada territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra Pacific Power Co | Investor Owned | 288 | 240 | 2.51 | 13.7 | 335k |
| Plumas-Sierra Rural Elec Coop | CA | – | – | – | 17.9 | 4.5k |
| Surprise Valley Electrification | Cooperative | – | – | – | 14.0 | 6 |
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
- Sierra, CA 145 h
- Nevada, CA 45 h
- Placer, CA 9.6 h
- Humboldt 8.0 h
- Storey 7.6 h
- Pershing 5.9 h
- Lake, OR 4.3 h
- Washoe (this county) 4.2 h
- Lyon 3.7 h
- Carson City 3.1 h
- Modoc, CA 2.9 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 244,311 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 →