Power outage history
Jefferson County Alabama
5.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
43rd most of 60 in Alabama 17% 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 Jefferson'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 8.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Jefferson, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 34,661 | 9% | 2.0 d | 42 h | 634k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 47,818 | 13% | 35 h | 28 h | 481k |
| Jun 7, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 39,648 | 11% | 31 h | 29 h | 458k |
| Dec 8, 2018 | No storm report | 31,934 | 9% | 35 h | 34 h | 429k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | Windstorm | 39,184 | 11% | 25 h | 21 h | 423k |
| Dec 10, 2023 | Tornadoes | 25,348 | 7% | 25 h | 32 h | 310k |
| Jul 21, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 32,424 | 9% | 24 h | 23 h | 290k |
| Nov 25, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 33,143 | 9% | 19 h | 18 h | 268k |
| Oct 29, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 15,877 | 4% | 35 h | 42 h | 237k |
| Mar 30, 2022 | Windstorm | 17,055 | 5% | 23 h | 18 h | 223k |
| May 17, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 20,185 | 5% | 18 h | 18 h | 206k |
| Mar 25, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 11,254 | 3% | 26 h | 34 h | 179k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 28,827 | 8% | 13 h | 14 h | 141k |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 14,517 | 4% | 14 h | 17 h | 125k |
| Nov 30, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 19,083 | 5% | 11 h | 15 h | 123k |
| May 27, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 17,662 | 5% | 15 h | 16 h | 122k |
| Mar 3, 2023 | No storm report | 16,785 | 5% | 13 h | 18 h | 112k |
| May 2, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 17,697 | 5% | 12 h | 23 h | 109k |
| Jan 25, 2021 | Tornadoes | 9,531 | 3% | 18 h | 30 h | 103k |
| Feb 17, 2022 | Tornadoes | 14,930 | 4% | 12 h | 15 h | 95k |
| Jun 20, 2019 | No storm report | 19,470 | 5% | 7.5 h | 8.0 h | 95k |
| May 29, 2018 | Tropical Storm Alberto | 11,355 | 3% | 9.8 h | 9.8 h | 70k |
| Sep 12, 2024 | Hurricane Francine | 10,724 | 3% | 10 h | 17 h | 70k |
| May 18, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 19,962 | 5% | 9.0 h | 7.0 h | 69k |
| Jan 8, 2024 | No storm report | 5,834 | 2% | 16 h | 19 h | 68k |
| Jul 9, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 14,531 | 4% | 8.0 h | 18 h | 68k |
| Jul 12, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 16,621 | 4% | 7.0 h | 8.5 h | 63k |
| Jun 8, 2022 | Flooding | 9,186 | 2% | 9.5 h | 21 h | 61k |
| Dec 14, 2020 | Tornadoes | 8,760 | 2% | 7.2 h | 10 h | 52k |
| Aug 11, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 12,205 | 3% | 6.2 h | 15 h | 47k |
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 Jefferson from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 58%
- No storm on record 15%
- Windstorm 11%
- Tornadoes 8.4%
- Tropical storm 6.5%
- Flooding 1.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Jefferson
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Alabama territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama Power Co | Investor Owned | 410 | 108 | 2.06 | 17.9 | 1.3M |
| City of Bessemer Utilities | Municipal | – | – | – | 13.3 | 9.3k |
| City of Tarrant | Municipal | – | – | – | 14.0 | 2.1k |
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
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 372,757 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 →