Power outage history
Howard County Maryland
2.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
19th most of 24 in Maryland 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 Howard's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2018 was the worst well-recorded year, at 4.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Howard, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 21,220 | 15% | 3.0 d | 12 min | 422k |
| Jun 21, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 23,403 | 16% | 29 h | 7.2 h | 247k |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Windstorm | 16,396 | 11% | 27 h | 25 h | 158k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Winter storm | 6,274 | 4% | 36 h | 43 h | 155k |
| May 23, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 9,812 | 7% | 7.5 h | 8.0 h | 42k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Flooding | 6,643 | 5% | 9.8 h | 18 h | 42k |
| Nov 2, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,065 | 1% | 24 h | – | 42k |
| Aug 7, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 4,588 | 3% | 14 h | – | 37k |
| Feb 12, 2019 | Winter storm | 4,901 | 3% | 14 h | – | 35k |
| May 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 5,271 | 4% | 10 h | 21 h | 33k |
| May 30, 2019 | Tornadoes | 4,649 | 3% | 13 h | – | 32k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 5,855 | 4% | 6.8 h | 30 min | 27k |
| Dec 29, 2025 | No storm report | 3,083 | 2% | 7.2 h | – | 19k |
| Jun 22, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,127 | 2% | 8.2 h | – | 18k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 2,774 | 2% | 7.2 h | – | 16k |
| Jun 23, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 7,405 | 5% | 2.5 h | 3.0 h | 15k |
| Jul 30, 2016 | Flooding | 8,499 | 6% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 13k |
| Aug 5, 2022 | No storm report | 2,223 | 2% | 5.8 h | – | 11k |
| May 27, 2018 | Flooding | 2,449 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 10k |
| Jul 5, 2023 | No storm report | 18,761 | 13% | 30 min | 12 min | 9.0k |
| Sep 8, 2015 | No storm report | 3,856 | 3% | 2.5 h | – | 8.7k |
| Jun 2, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,405 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 8.3k |
| Jul 8, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 5,071 | 3% | 2.8 h | 5.8 h | 8.0k |
| Nov 2, 2020 | No storm report | 3,424 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 7.9k |
| Jun 8, 2022 | Flooding | 2,974 | 2% | 4.2 h | – | 7.0k |
| Aug 9, 2024 | Hurricane Debby | 2,049 | 1% | 3.5 h | – | 6.7k |
| Aug 13, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,767 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 6.2k |
| Mar 1, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 2,468 | 2% | 2.8 h | – | 6.1k |
| Feb 25, 2019 | Windstorm | 3,322 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 6.0k |
| Oct 22, 2016 | No storm report | 3,322 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 5.8k |
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 Howard from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 48%
- Thunderstorms 18%
- Winter storm 15%
- No storm on record 11%
- Flooding 4.6%
- Tornadoes 2.5%
- Tropical storm 0.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Howard
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Maryland territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Gas & Electric Co | Investor Owned | 175 | 65 | 0.87 | 20.2 | 1.2M |
| The Potomac Edison Company | Investor Owned | 399 | 174 | 1.30 | 15.4 | 259k |
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
- Carroll 6.4 h
- Baltimore 4.2 h
- Prince George's 3.2 h
- Anne Arundel 3.1 h
- Montgomery 2.8 h
- Frederick 2.6 h
- Howard (this county) 2.3 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 146,094 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 →