Power outage history
Marion County Iowa
1.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
90th most of 98 in Iowa 77% 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 Marion's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 2.4 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Marion, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 1,590 | 8% | 26 h | 25 h | 19k |
| Aug 20, 2019 | Tornadoes | 2,670 | 13% | 14 h | 10 h | 12k |
| May 24, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,576 | 8% | 10 h | 13 h | 7.8k |
| Apr 7, 2023 | No storm report | 2,481 | 12% | 6.8 h | 1.0 h | 7.8k |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 2,599 | 13% | 4.2 h | 1.8 h | 7.7k |
| Jul 29, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,991 | 15% | 2.5 h | 2.2 h | 6.3k |
| Jun 28, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,321 | 7% | 5.0 h | 3.2 h | 6.2k |
| Jun 28, 2024 | No storm report | 3,819 | 19% | 2.5 h | 1.5 h | 5.7k |
| Jan 1, 2020 | No storm report | 3,849 | 19% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 4.9k |
| Apr 16, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 3,685 | 19% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 4.8k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,815 | 9% | 6.5 h | 2.8 h | 4.7k |
| Nov 18, 2020 | No storm report | 2,590 | 13% | 1.8 h | 10 h | 4.0k |
| Oct 5, 2017 | No storm report | 1,057 | 5% | 4.8 h | 5.2 h | 4.0k |
| Jul 30, 2025 | No storm report | 860 | 4% | 4.8 h | – | 3.9k |
| Oct 12, 2015 | No storm report | 2,445 | 12% | 2.0 h | 2.5 h | 3.8k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | No storm report | 1,822 | 9% | 3.5 h | 8.5 h | 3.4k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | No storm report | 1,537 | 8% | 2.2 h | 48 min | 3.4k |
| Mar 25, 2020 | No storm report | 2,998 | 15% | 2.5 h | 48 min | 3.4k |
| May 29, 2018 | No storm report | 1,884 | 9% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 2.9k |
| Apr 1, 2019 | No storm report | 1,559 | 8% | 1.8 h | 48 min | 2.7k |
| Aug 28, 2022 | No storm report | 2,976 | 15% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 2.7k |
| Jun 14, 2018 | No storm report | 1,096 | 6% | 2.5 h | 4.2 h | 2.7k |
| Mar 5, 2025 | Winter storm | 613 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 2.4k |
| Sep 8, 2019 | No storm report | 1,151 | 6% | 2.5 h | 1.0 h | 2.4k |
| Sep 21, 2024 | No storm report | 1,340 | 7% | 1.8 h | 48 min | 2.3k |
| Mar 14, 2021 | No storm report | 959 | 5% | 6.2 h | – | 2.3k |
| Apr 14, 2018 | No storm report | 1,230 | 6% | 2.0 h | 5.2 h | 2.2k |
| Oct 1, 2021 | No storm report | 468 | 2% | 4.8 h | – | 2.1k |
| Jun 22, 2024 | No storm report | 610 | 3% | 3.5 h | – | 2.1k |
| Oct 18, 2020 | No storm report | 1,059 | 5% | 1.8 h | 2.0 h | 1.9k |
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 Marion from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 56%
- Thunderstorms 33%
- Tornadoes 8.2%
- Winter storm 3.0%
- Tropical storm 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Marion
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 |
| Chariton Valley Elec Coop, Inc | IA | 204 | 161 | 1.99 | 13.2 | 58k |
| Pella Cooperative Elec Assn | IA | – | – | – | 13.0 | 40k |
| City of Pella | IA | – | – | – | 11.7 | 37k |
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.
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 19,876 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 →