Power Out Map
– 0% of McPherson out 0 customers out in South Dakota

Power outage history

McPherson County South Dakota

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

Worst outage on record Oct 27, 2021 41% of customers out · 90% back in 1.2 hours
Hours without power, average customer per year –h / yr State average 4.8 h · national median 6.6 h
Major outages a year – Peaks over 10% of customers or 50,000 customers
Typical time to restore 90% 1hours Median across major outages, from the peak
Longest single outage 3.6days Oct 24, 2021, over 1% of customers out
Outage hours on storm days 14% Share falling on days with a NOAA storm report here
Worst year –
Electricity customers 1,223 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 McPherson'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

McPherson, hours without power per customer

McPhersonUS median countySouth Dakota average
0 5 10 15 20 ’17 ’19 ’20 ’21 ’22 ’23 ’24 ’25 US 6.6 SD 4.8

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
Oct 24, 2021 No storm report 506 41% 3.6 d 1.2 h 22k
Oct 21, 2021 No storm report 260 21% 2.9 d 2.8 d 17k
Feb 3, 2021 Ice storm 608 50% 4.0 h 48 min 2.4k
Mar 14, 2020 No storm report 642 52% 6.2 h 4.5 h 1.7k
Jul 17, 2020 Thunderstorms 632 52% 5.5 h 5.5 h 1.5k
Dec 18, 2025 Windstorm 322 26% 3.2 h 3.2 h 1.0k
May 30, 2022 No storm report 629 51% 1.5 h 1.5 h 943
Aug 10, 2022 No storm report 614 50% 1.5 h 1.5 h 921
Nov 4, 2020 No storm report 654 53% 1.0 h 1.0 h 654
Dec 26, 2023 Ice storm 272 22% 2.2 h 11 h 606
Feb 13, 2021 Winter storm 342 28% 1.5 h 1.5 h 513
Oct 14, 2021 No storm report 609 50% 48 min 48 min 457

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 +2h 90% by +2h

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 McPherson from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.

  • No storm on record 86%
  • Ice storm 6.2%
  • Thunderstorms 4.1%
  • Windstorm 2.7%
  • Winter storm 1.0%

Who keeps the lights on

Utilities serving McPherson

As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole South 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
FEM Electric Assn, Inc SD 87 87 1.20 12.1 39k
Montana-Dakota Utilities Co Investor Owned 212 206 2.62 13.0 6.3k
Northern Electric Coop, Inc Cooperative 73 65 0.74 11.4 5.8k
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 South Dakota

Where it is darkest

Hours / yr64+

All South 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 1,223 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 →