Power outage history
Lyon County Iowa
2.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
68th most of 98 in Iowa 64% 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 Lyon'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 6.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Lyon, 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 28, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,792 | 35% | 46 h | 22 h | 24k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Ice storm | 1,619 | 32% | 27 h | 20 h | 16k |
| Jun 22, 2024 | Flooding | 536 | 11% | 26 h | 21 h | 12k |
| May 19, 2025 | Windstorm | 779 | 15% | 6.5 h | 3.5 h | 4.4k |
| May 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 839 | 16% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 2.3k |
| Apr 13, 2018 | No storm report | 514 | 10% | 11 h | 1.2 h | 2.1k |
| Jul 17, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 742 | 15% | 2.8 h | 2.8 h | 1.8k |
| Jan 28, 2020 | No storm report | 456 | 9% | 4.8 h | 4.8 h | 1.6k |
| Jun 17, 2016 | No storm report | 1,132 | 22% | 4.0 h | 1.2 h | 1.6k |
| May 11, 2022 | No storm report | 1,142 | 22% | 1.5 h | 1.0 h | 1.5k |
| Mar 9, 2019 | Winter storm | 639 | 13% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 1.5k |
| Aug 5, 2018 | No storm report | 670 | 13% | 2.5 h | 2.0 h | 1.3k |
| Apr 15, 2024 | No storm report | 738 | 14% | 1.8 h | 1.2 h | 1.2k |
| Nov 18, 2016 | Winter storm | 455 | 9% | 2.2 h | 7.5 h | 1.0k |
| May 3, 2018 | Flooding | 156 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 1.0k |
| Sep 28, 2022 | No storm report | 367 | 7% | 2.8 h | 2.8 h | 1.0k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | Heat | 477 | 9% | 2.0 h | 1.8 h | 951 |
| Sep 23, 2023 | No storm report | 164 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 940 |
| Oct 13, 2016 | No storm report | 483 | 9% | 2.0 h | 3.0 h | 924 |
| Sep 5, 2016 | No storm report | 739 | 15% | 1.2 h | 1.5 h | 924 |
| Jul 16, 2023 | No storm report | 734 | 14% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 918 |
| Apr 2, 2020 | Flooding | 366 | 7% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 915 |
| Jul 5, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 288 | 6% | 4.5 h | 9.0 h | 872 |
| Apr 8, 2018 | Winter storm | 659 | 13% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 823 |
| Apr 13, 2017 | No storm report | 744 | 15% | 1.2 h | 30 min | 768 |
| Aug 14, 2025 | No storm report | 203 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 761 |
| Jul 23, 2025 | Heat | 377 | 7% | 2.0 h | 2.5 h | 754 |
| Jun 2, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 765 | 15% | 1.0 h | 12 min | 738 |
| Jun 29, 2025 | No storm report | 200 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 657 |
| Jul 31, 2024 | Heat | 286 | 6% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 644 |
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 Lyon from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 31%
- No storm on record 22%
- Ice storm 18%
- Flooding 17%
- Windstorm 4.9%
- Winter storm 4.5%
- Heat 2.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Lyon
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 |
| Lyon Rural Electric Coop | IA | 173 | 51 | 0.90 | 9.6 | 70k |
| Osceola Electric Coop, Inc | IA | 452 | 103 | 3.79 | 10.8 | 34k |
| Rock Rapids Municipal Utility | IA | – | – | – | 8.5 | 13k |
| North West Rural Electric Coop | Cooperative | 188 | 115 | 1.11 | 9.4 | 9.5k |
| City of Larchwood | IA | – | – | – | – | 5.4k |
| Nobles Cooperative Electric | MN | – | – | – | 11.6 | 135 |
| 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
- Osceola 6.3 h
- Minnehaha, SD 5.6 h
- Rock, MN 3.1 h
- O'Brien 2.9 h
- Lyon (this county) 2.4 h
- Lincoln, SD 2.2 h
- Sioux 1.9 h
- Nobles, MN 1.9 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 5,090 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 →