Power outage history
Crow Wing County Minnesota
4.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
14th most of 54 in Minnesota 39% 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 Crow Wing's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 18 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Crow Wing, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 30, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 14,167 | 29% | 2.7 d | 45 h | 336k |
| Dec 15, 2022 | Winter storm | 10,842 | 22% | 2.3 d | 43 h | 291k |
| Jul 12, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 6,525 | 13% | 2.6 d | 2.1 d | 164k |
| Jun 20, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 11,080 | 23% | 41 h | 29 h | 162k |
| Jul 21, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 5,297 | 11% | 40 h | 34 h | 96k |
| Nov 18, 2016 | Winter storm | 2,782 | 6% | 26 h | 12 h | 57k |
| Jun 21, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,381 | 9% | 13 h | 12 h | 43k |
| Sep 20, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 2,946 | 6% | 26 h | 30 h | 42k |
| Jun 12, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 5,359 | 11% | 20 h | 6.8 h | 32k |
| Aug 2, 2017 | No storm report | 2,703 | 6% | 6.2 h | 1.8 h | 17k |
| Sep 27, 2016 | No storm report | 1,962 | 4% | 7.8 h | – | 15k |
| May 6, 2023 | No storm report | 3,077 | 6% | 7.5 h | 7.0 h | 14k |
| Jul 24, 2021 | No storm report | 2,966 | 6% | 7.0 h | 4.2 h | 12k |
| Apr 14, 2021 | No storm report | 2,596 | 5% | 5.2 h | 3.2 h | 12k |
| Dec 7, 2015 | No storm report | 2,434 | 5% | 5.2 h | 4.8 h | 12k |
| Jun 23, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,562 | 9% | 6.0 h | 5.8 h | 12k |
| Sep 18, 2022 | No storm report | 1,831 | 4% | 6.5 h | – | 11k |
| Jun 16, 2025 | Tornadoes | 2,332 | 5% | 6.0 h | – | 11k |
| Jul 10, 2016 | No storm report | 2,636 | 5% | 7.2 h | 6.5 h | 10k |
| Jul 9, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,130 | 2% | 11 h | – | 9.4k |
| Jun 30, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,199 | 2% | 9.5 h | – | 8.5k |
| Mar 8, 2018 | No storm report | 1,918 | 4% | 4.8 h | – | 8.0k |
| Aug 6, 2025 | No storm report | 2,519 | 5% | 4.8 h | 2.8 h | 7.8k |
| Sep 26, 2020 | No storm report | 3,591 | 7% | 2.2 h | 2.8 h | 7.4k |
| Mar 23, 2016 | No storm report | 1,725 | 4% | 4.5 h | – | 7.4k |
| Nov 22, 2020 | No storm report | 998 | 2% | 7.5 h | – | 7.3k |
| Jul 26, 2021 | No storm report | 1,054 | 2% | 7.2 h | – | 6.9k |
| Jul 17, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 2,751 | 6% | 5.2 h | 5.0 h | 6.7k |
| Jun 19, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 904 | 2% | 7.0 h | – | 6.3k |
| Oct 31, 2017 | No storm report | 857 | 2% | 7.2 h | – | 6.2k |
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 Crow Wing from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 50%
- Winter storm 25%
- No storm on record 24%
- Tornadoes 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Crow Wing
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Minnesota territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALLETE, Inc. | Investor Owned | 143 | 102 | 1.23 | 15.9 | 127k |
| Crow Wing Cooperative Power & Light Comp | Cooperative | 130 | 62 | 0.93 | 14.3 | 45k |
| Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative | Cooperative | 208 | 170 | 1.35 | 17.5 | 15k |
| Brainerd Public Utilities | Municipal | 21 | 21 | 0.30 | 12.1 | 7.0k |
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
- Aitkin 10 h
- Cass 8.6 h
- Crow Wing (this county) 4.0 h
- Morrison 3.8 h
- Mille Lacs 1.3 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 48,618 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 →