Power outage history
Meade County South Dakota
3.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
23rd most of 32 in South Dakota 48% 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 Meade'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 8.4 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Meade, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 13, 2025 | No storm report | 10,065 | 70% | 9.0 h | 4.0 h | 48k |
| Dec 18, 2025 | Windstorm | 519 | 4% | 39 h | – | 17k |
| Jul 12, 2021 | No storm report | 439 | 3% | 2.4 d | – | 10k |
| Mar 25, 2025 | No storm report | 292 | 2% | 27 h | – | 7.9k |
| Feb 11, 2016 | No storm report | 8,299 | 58% | 48 min | 48 min | 6.2k |
| May 18, 2025 | No storm report | 4,947 | 35% | 1.2 h | 1.5 h | 5.5k |
| Oct 12, 2021 | Winter storm | 7,130 | 50% | 3.0 h | 12 min | 5.2k |
| Jul 23, 2025 | No storm report | 5,009 | 35% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 4.0k |
| Jul 13, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 349 | 2% | 15 h | – | 3.9k |
| Sep 23, 2025 | No storm report | 761 | 5% | 5.2 h | 5.2 h | 3.3k |
| Jul 6, 2023 | No storm report | 150 | 1% | 22 h | – | 3.3k |
| Aug 28, 2025 | No storm report | 2,043 | 14% | 2.2 h | 1.2 h | 3.2k |
| Jul 6, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 3,014 | 21% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 3.1k |
| Apr 23, 2022 | Winter storm | 360 | 3% | 15 h | – | 3.1k |
| Sep 16, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,519 | 11% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 3.0k |
| May 26, 2019 | No storm report | 981 | 7% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 2.9k |
| Jan 23, 2023 | No storm report | 812 | 6% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 2.8k |
| Sep 15, 2021 | No storm report | 747 | 5% | 3.5 h | 3.2 h | 2.6k |
| Jul 5, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,576 | 11% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 2.5k |
| Sep 14, 2020 | No storm report | 143 | 1% | 18 h | – | 2.5k |
| Mar 12, 2017 | No storm report | 1,628 | 11% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 2.4k |
| Dec 15, 2022 | Winter storm | 792 | 6% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 2.3k |
| Jul 19, 2025 | No storm report | 451 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 2.3k |
| Jul 9, 2024 | No storm report | 1,690 | 12% | 2.0 h | 1.0 h | 2.2k |
| Jun 8, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,642 | 11% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 2.1k |
| Apr 23, 2024 | No storm report | 804 | 6% | 3.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.8k |
| Mar 5, 2018 | Windstorm | 176 | 1% | 11 h | – | 1.8k |
| May 21, 2024 | No storm report | 318 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 1.7k |
| Feb 10, 2018 | No storm report | 1,651 | 12% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 1.7k |
| Jul 18, 2022 | No storm report | 1,593 | 11% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.6k |
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 Meade from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 73%
- Windstorm 11%
- Winter storm 8.1%
- Thunderstorms 8.0%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Meade
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hills Power, Inc. | Investor Owned | 541 | 43 | 2.27 | 15.1 | 68k |
| Butte Electric Coop, Inc | SD | 48 | 48 | 0.64 | 13.6 | 68k |
| Grand Electric Coop, Inc | SD | – | – | – | 11.7 | 52k |
| West River Electric Assn Inc | Cooperative | 24 | 24 | 0.30 | 15.2 | 19k |
| Black Hills Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 2,487 | 120 | 3.41 | 14.8 | 9.4k |
| City of Faith | SD | – | – | – | – | 2.8k |
| 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
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 14,286 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 →