Power outage history
Vernon County Wisconsin
1.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
51st most of 72 in Wisconsin 73% 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 Vernon's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 4.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Vernon, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 19, 2017 | Flooding | 1,474 | 12% | 28 h | 15 h | 27k |
| Jul 23, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,845 | 14% | 28 h | 24 h | 21k |
| Dec 22, 2022 | Winter storm | 1,116 | 9% | 15 h | 5.2 h | 17k |
| May 2, 2020 | No storm report | 1,073 | 8% | 15 h | 24 h | 15k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Winter storm | 2,015 | 16% | 31 h | 26 h | 11k |
| Aug 28, 2018 | Flooding | 759 | 6% | 28 h | 14 h | 9.9k |
| Jun 2, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,056 | 16% | 5.8 h | 3.5 h | 7.7k |
| Sep 3, 2018 | Flooding | 263 | 2% | 19 h | – | 5.0k |
| Jul 14, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,218 | 10% | 5.5 h | 2.8 h | 4.0k |
| Aug 6, 2022 | No storm report | 829 | 6% | 5.0 h | 4.8 h | 3.6k |
| Apr 14, 2018 | Winter storm | 718 | 6% | 11 h | 3.5 h | 3.2k |
| May 27, 2020 | No storm report | 804 | 6% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 2.9k |
| Feb 29, 2020 | No storm report | 156 | 1% | 15 h | – | 2.3k |
| Jul 24, 2015 | No storm report | 805 | 6% | 7.0 h | 5.8 h | 2.2k |
| Jul 5, 2016 | Tornadoes | 323 | 3% | 11 h | – | 2.2k |
| Apr 21, 2019 | No storm report | 992 | 8% | 2.8 h | 12 h | 2.1k |
| Jul 14, 2021 | No storm report | 797 | 6% | 3.2 h | 48 min | 2.0k |
| Nov 6, 2020 | No storm report | 794 | 6% | 3.5 h | 48 min | 2.0k |
| Sep 3, 2019 | No storm report | 615 | 5% | 3.0 h | – | 1.7k |
| May 4, 2019 | No storm report | 935 | 7% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 1.6k |
| Jul 20, 2019 | Flooding | 797 | 6% | 2.0 h | 1.2 h | 1.5k |
| Jul 19, 2025 | No storm report | 867 | 7% | 1.8 h | 48 min | 1.5k |
| Oct 12, 2019 | No storm report | 658 | 5% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 1.5k |
| May 23, 2017 | No storm report | 262 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 1.4k |
| Jun 30, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 336 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 1.4k |
| Jun 9, 2020 | Tropical Storm Cristobal | 199 | 2% | 7.0 h | – | 1.4k |
| Mar 31, 2022 | No storm report | 678 | 5% | 2.0 h | 5.2 h | 1.4k |
| Jul 18, 2025 | No storm report | 495 | 4% | 2.5 h | – | 1.2k |
| Dec 30, 2025 | No storm report | 1,071 | 8% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.2k |
| Feb 3, 2017 | No storm report | 913 | 7% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.1k |
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 Vernon from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 39%
- Thunderstorms 25%
- Winter storm 22%
- Flooding 12%
- Tropical storm 1.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Vernon
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Wisconsin territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Power & Light Co | Investor Owned | 96 | 75 | 0.79 | 18.5 | 441k |
| Northern States Power Co | Investor Owned | 309 | 110 | 1.15 | 15.6 | 223k |
| Vernon Electric Coop | WI | 188 | 125 | – | 14.5 | 123k |
| Richland Electric Coop | WI | – | – | – | – | 37k |
| Scenic Rivers Energy Coop | Cooperative | 105 | 105 | 1.17 | 15.5 | 14k |
| La Farge Municipal Electric Co | WI | – | – | – | – | 3.2k |
| Village of Viola | WI | – | – | – | – | 2.6k |
| City of Westby | Municipal | – | – | – | 11.9 | 1.1k |
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
- Allamakee, IA 3.6 h
- La Crosse 3.2 h
- Vernon (this county) 1.8 h
- Houston, MN 1.6 h
- Monroe 1.5 h
- Juneau 1.4 h
- Crawford 1.4 h
- Sauk 1.2 h
- Richland 0.6 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 12,813 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 →