Power outage history
Lac qui Parle County Minnesota
2.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
60% 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 Lac qui Parle'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 2.6 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Lac qui Parle, 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 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,717 | 91% | 39 h | 39 h | 33k |
| Sep 20, 2025 | No storm report | 355 | 19% | 5.8 h | 5.8 h | 2.0k |
| May 16, 2022 | No storm report | 112 | 6% | 12 h | 12 h | 1.4k |
| Feb 14, 2023 | Winter storm | 144 | 8% | 10 h | 8.5 h | 1.3k |
| Mar 17, 2024 | No storm report | 377 | 20% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 1.3k |
| Aug 5, 2021 | No storm report | 354 | 19% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 1.1k |
| Apr 25, 2023 | Flooding | 123 | 7% | 6.2 h | 6.2 h | 769 |
| Apr 27, 2023 | Flooding | 161 | 9% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 613 |
| May 21, 2024 | No storm report | 212 | 11% | 3.2 h | 2.5 h | 597 |
| Aug 14, 2025 | No storm report | 144 | 8% | 4.5 h | 5.8 h | 550 |
| Jun 20, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 167 | 9% | 4.8 h | 4.5 h | 536 |
| May 30, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 49 | 3% | 10 h | – | 490 |
| Jul 27, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 168 | 9% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 478 |
| Apr 1, 2025 | Winter storm | 154 | 8% | 3.0 h | 1.8 h | 447 |
| May 8, 2023 | No storm report | 161 | 9% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 402 |
| Jun 29, 2022 | Windstorm | 100 | 5% | 7.2 h | 1.5 h | 392 |
| Aug 15, 2024 | No storm report | 110 | 6% | 3.8 h | 2.5 h | 367 |
| May 15, 2025 | No storm report | 213 | 11% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 320 |
| May 30, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 184 | 10% | 1.8 h | 4.0 h | 294 |
| Aug 12, 2023 | No storm report | 74 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 278 |
| Jul 15, 2024 | No storm report | 110 | 6% | 2.8 h | 1.5 h | 259 |
| May 11, 2023 | No storm report | 200 | 11% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 250 |
| Dec 6, 2024 | No storm report | 58 | 3% | 3.8 h | – | 218 |
| Jul 23, 2024 | No storm report | 185 | 10% | 1.2 h | 2.0 h | 196 |
| Oct 27, 2025 | No storm report | 42 | 2% | 4.2 h | – | 178 |
| Jun 30, 2022 | Windstorm | 49 | 3% | 3.5 h | – | 172 |
| Mar 15, 2025 | Winter storm | 272 | 14% | 48 min | 30 min | 159 |
| Oct 4, 2025 | No storm report | 65 | 3% | 2.2 h | – | 146 |
| Apr 24, 2024 | No storm report | 223 | 12% | 48 min | 30 min | 146 |
| Aug 8, 2022 | No storm report | 112 | 6% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 140 |
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 Lac qui Parle from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 70%
- No storm on record 22%
- Winter storm 3.9%
- Flooding 2.8%
- Windstorm 1.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Lac qui Parle
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern States Power Co - Minnesota | Investor Owned | 226 | 115 | 1.38 | 17.1 | 1.2M |
| Otter Tail Power Co | Investor Owned | 557 | 136 | 1.74 | 11.3 | 50k |
| City of Madison | MN | – | – | – | – | 8.4k |
| Minnesota Valley Coop L&P Assn | Cooperative | 125 | 65 | 1.51 | 13.2 | 4.9k |
| H-D Electric Coop Inc | SD | – | – | – | 12.9 | 106 |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
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
- Grant, SD 26 h
- Deuel, SD 14 h
- Yellow Medicine 3.3 h
- Lac qui Parle (this county) 2.6 h
- Chippewa 2.2 h
- Swift 1.2 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 1,882 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 →