Power outage history
Buchanan County Iowa
2.1hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
76th most of 98 in Iowa 68% 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 Buchanan's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2023 was the worst well-recorded year, at 4.6 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Buchanan, 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 10, 2023 | No storm report | 358 | 3% | 3.0 d | – | 25k |
| Aug 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 1,194 | 10% | 23 h | 18 h | 14k |
| Nov 14, 2023 | No storm report | 373 | 3% | 20 h | – | 7.0k |
| May 17, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,471 | 12% | 12 h | 12 h | 5.1k |
| Jun 1, 2024 | No storm report | 200 | 2% | 37 h | – | 5.0k |
| Jul 29, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 947 | 8% | 5.5 h | 3.0 h | 4.3k |
| Nov 2, 2023 | No storm report | 261 | 2% | 17 h | – | 4.3k |
| May 26, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 840 | 7% | 8.0 h | 6.8 h | 3.8k |
| Nov 30, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,481 | 12% | 2.5 h | 2.2 h | 3.7k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 1,039 | 8% | 4.0 h | 3.0 h | 3.5k |
| Jul 22, 2023 | No storm report | 1,035 | 8% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 3.1k |
| Dec 14, 2024 | Ice storm | 720 | 6% | 3.5 h | 48 min | 2.5k |
| Nov 5, 2016 | No storm report | 1,493 | 12% | 1.8 h | 3.5 h | 2.4k |
| Nov 16, 2022 | No storm report | 518 | 4% | 4.0 h | – | 2.1k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 748 | 6% | 3.2 h | 2.8 h | 2.0k |
| Jul 30, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 410 | 3% | 9.0 h | – | 2.0k |
| Sep 22, 2016 | No storm report | 1,498 | 12% | 1.2 h | 12 min | 1.9k |
| Feb 23, 2023 | No storm report | 1,490 | 12% | 1.2 h | 3.2 h | 1.9k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 830 | 7% | 4.0 h | 2.8 h | 1.8k |
| Jun 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 409 | 3% | 5.2 h | – | 1.6k |
| Jan 26, 2020 | No storm report | 565 | 5% | 2.5 h | – | 1.4k |
| Sep 9, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 406 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 1.4k |
| Nov 6, 2021 | No storm report | 539 | 4% | 2.5 h | – | 1.3k |
| Jan 21, 2022 | No storm report | 388 | 3% | 3.2 h | – | 1.3k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | No storm report | 259 | 2% | 5.0 h | – | 1.3k |
| Feb 7, 2019 | No storm report | 589 | 5% | 3.0 h | – | 1.3k |
| Oct 24, 2021 | No storm report | 542 | 4% | 2.2 h | – | 1.2k |
| Jul 10, 2017 | No storm report | 450 | 4% | 3.0 h | – | 1.1k |
| Sep 15, 2021 | No storm report | 811 | 7% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 1.0k |
| Oct 4, 2019 | No storm report | 308 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 973 |
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 Buchanan from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 68%
- Thunderstorms 23%
- Winter storm 3.2%
- Ice storm 3.0%
- Windstorm 1.6%
- Tornadoes 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Buchanan
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Iowa territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MidAmerican Energy Co | Investor Owned | 205 | 82 | 1.19 | 11.2 | 640k |
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| Maquoketa Valley Rrl Elec Coop | Cooperative | 138 | 63 | 1.03 | 13.8 | 11k |
| East-Central Iowa Rural Elec Coop | Cooperative | 67 | 67 | 0.88 | 13.1 | 7.4k |
| City of Fairbank | IA | – | – | – | – | 4.6k |
| City of Independence | Municipal | 17 | 4 | 0.15 | 14.4 | 2.7k |
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 12,254 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 →