Power outage history
Houghton County Michigan
2.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
82nd most of 83 in Michigan 56% 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 Houghton'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 5.6 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Houghton, 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 26, 2025 | Winter storm | 5,488 | 20% | 47 h | 32 h | 97k |
| Dec 16, 2021 | Windstorm | 3,192 | 12% | 38 h | 9.5 h | 38k |
| Jul 19, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 14,073 | 51% | 12 h | 1.5 h | 24k |
| Mar 23, 2022 | Ice storm | 3,777 | 14% | 19 h | 10 h | 22k |
| Nov 3, 2025 | No storm report | 18,348 | 67% | 4.8 h | 1.2 h | 20k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Winter storm | 3,170 | 11% | 11 h | 8.5 h | 17k |
| Aug 21, 2021 | No storm report | 4,686 | 17% | 3.8 h | 30 min | 17k |
| Sep 25, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,270 | 8% | 18 h | 16 h | 16k |
| Jul 27, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 643 | 2% | 24 h | – | 15k |
| May 9, 2022 | Wildfire | 934 | 3% | 29 h | – | 14k |
| Dec 24, 2015 | Windstorm | 3,594 | 13% | 11 h | 8.2 h | 13k |
| Oct 1, 2020 | No storm report | 1,564 | 6% | 13 h | 6.2 h | 13k |
| Sep 12, 2019 | No storm report | 1,577 | 6% | 7.5 h | 9.0 h | 12k |
| Oct 17, 2022 | Winter storm | 769 | 3% | 14 h | – | 8.5k |
| Jun 25, 2022 | No storm report | 1,898 | 7% | 3.8 h | 3.2 h | 6.7k |
| Dec 21, 2024 | No storm report | 1,376 | 5% | 4.8 h | – | 6.5k |
| Apr 17, 2024 | No storm report | 688 | 2% | 10 h | – | 6.4k |
| Apr 3, 2024 | Winter storm | 620 | 2% | 9.8 h | – | 5.9k |
| Dec 5, 2017 | Winter storm | 2,429 | 9% | 6.2 h | 8.2 h | 5.3k |
| Dec 15, 2022 | Winter storm | 2,416 | 9% | 3.5 h | 1.8 h | 5.3k |
| Nov 1, 2020 | No storm report | 1,725 | 6% | 7.8 h | 2.2 h | 4.9k |
| May 22, 2021 | No storm report | 791 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 4.5k |
| Dec 24, 2022 | Winter storm | 2,129 | 8% | 2.8 h | 1.0 h | 4.3k |
| Dec 29, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,443 | 5% | 4.8 h | 1.0 h | 4.2k |
| Feb 1, 2016 | No storm report | 938 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 4.0k |
| May 9, 2019 | No storm report | 4,799 | 17% | 1.8 h | 1.2 h | 3.6k |
| Mar 17, 2016 | Winter storm | 432 | 2% | 10 h | – | 3.6k |
| Sep 3, 2025 | No storm report | 672 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 3.6k |
| Sep 3, 2020 | Windstorm | 2,154 | 8% | 4.8 h | 3.0 h | 3.5k |
| Nov 27, 2019 | Winter storm | 1,688 | 6% | 2.8 h | – | 3.5k |
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 Houghton from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 37%
- Winter storm 32%
- Thunderstorms 12%
- Windstorm 10%
- Ice storm 4.6%
- Wildfire 2.8%
- Flooding 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Houghton
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Michigan territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Peninsula Power Company | Investor Owned | 446 | 190 | 2.20 | 28.0 | 48k |
| Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corp. | Investor Owned | 1,249 | 240 | 2.46 | 17.5 | 33k |
| Ontonagon County R E A | MI | 1,041 | 442 | 3.13 | – | 19k |
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 27,579 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 →