Power outage history
Barton County Kansas
6.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
20th most of 81 in Kansas close to 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 Barton'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 17 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Barton, 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 16, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 10,807 | 76% | 3.8 d | 21 h | 191k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 5,364 | 38% | 3.3 d | 3.1 d | 128k |
| Jan 16, 2017 | Ice storm | 2,613 | 18% | 4.4 d | 2.1 d | 101k |
| Jun 21, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 10,942 | 77% | 8.0 h | 2.5 h | 28k |
| Jun 22, 2020 | No storm report | 2,779 | 20% | 37 h | 3.2 h | 23k |
| Jan 8, 2024 | Winter storm | 2,789 | 20% | 20 h | 18 h | 17k |
| Mar 22, 2022 | No storm report | 659 | 5% | 2.4 d | – | 15k |
| May 27, 2024 | No storm report | 1,212 | 9% | 8.0 h | 9.8 h | 9.5k |
| Nov 20, 2025 | No storm report | 1,035 | 7% | 12 h | 12 h | 8.9k |
| Sep 1, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 5,575 | 39% | 3.0 h | 1.2 h | 8.3k |
| Nov 25, 2018 | Winter storm | 820 | 6% | 15 h | 7.0 h | 7.9k |
| May 9, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,981 | 14% | 6.0 h | 4.5 h | 7.6k |
| Dec 25, 2022 | No storm report | 2,526 | 18% | 4.5 h | 4.0 h | 7.2k |
| May 16, 2017 | Tornadoes | 1,619 | 11% | 9.0 h | 5.5 h | 7.0k |
| Sep 10, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 1,004 | 7% | 14 h | 11 h | 6.6k |
| Jun 26, 2020 | No storm report | 1,184 | 8% | 5.2 h | 1.8 h | 6.2k |
| Aug 2, 2023 | No storm report | 922 | 7% | 8.5 h | 7.5 h | 6.0k |
| May 27, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,682 | 12% | 4.8 h | 4.2 h | 5.8k |
| Dec 21, 2022 | No storm report | 1,027 | 7% | 11 h | 12 min | 5.7k |
| Nov 5, 2015 | No storm report | 1,159 | 8% | 5.0 h | 14 h | 5.7k |
| Apr 2, 2024 | No storm report | 900 | 6% | 6.0 h | 3.8 h | 5.2k |
| Oct 6, 2016 | No storm report | 1,331 | 9% | 4.5 h | 1.5 h | 5.0k |
| Sep 17, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,424 | 24% | 1.8 h | 48 min | 4.8k |
| Sep 18, 2021 | No storm report | 1,135 | 8% | 4.2 h | 4.2 h | 4.7k |
| Apr 16, 2019 | No storm report | 584 | 4% | 7.2 h | – | 4.2k |
| Sep 2, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 553 | 4% | 7.2 h | – | 4.0k |
| Jul 31, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,114 | 8% | 12 h | 11 h | 3.6k |
| Apr 19, 2024 | No storm report | 931 | 7% | 4.0 h | 3.0 h | 3.5k |
| Aug 5, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 904 | 6% | 3.5 h | 2.5 h | 3.1k |
| Apr 14, 2016 | No storm report | 1,152 | 8% | 2.8 h | 2.5 h | 3.0k |
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 Barton from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 44%
- No storm on record 28%
- Windstorm 22%
- Winter storm 4.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Barton
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Kansas territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling Hills Electric Coop | KS | – | – | – | 17.3 | 74k |
| Ark Valley Elec Coop Assn, Inc | KS | – | – | – | 16.0 | 47k |
| Midwest Energy Inc | Cooperative | 581 | 314 | 2.68 | 12.0 | 30k |
| Wheatland Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 173 | 121 | 1.44 | 15.0 | 20k |
| City of Hoisington | KS | – | – | – | – | 11k |
| City of Ellinwood | KS | – | – | – | – | 9.3k |
| Western Coop Electric Assn Inc | Cooperative | – | – | – | 14.6 | 5.8k |
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 14,147 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 →