Power outage history
Otter Tail County Minnesota
4.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
11th most of 54 in Minnesota 32% 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 Otter Tail'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 11 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Otter Tail, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 20, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 8,370 | 19% | 2.0 d | 30 h | 167k |
| Jul 13, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 13,256 | 30% | 22 h | 17 h | 144k |
| May 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 12,946 | 29% | 19 h | 13 h | 138k |
| Jun 13, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,740 | 11% | 23 h | 22 h | 54k |
| Jun 9, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 9,909 | 23% | 11 h | 8.8 h | 43k |
| Jul 8, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,871 | 9% | 14 h | 12 h | 30k |
| May 8, 2022 | No storm report | 3,484 | 8% | 24 h | 25 h | 30k |
| Nov 25, 2025 | Winter storm | 2,154 | 5% | 20 h | – | 25k |
| Dec 25, 2016 | Ice storm | 1,617 | 4% | 12 h | – | 17k |
| Sep 10, 2020 | No storm report | 1,723 | 4% | 9.5 h | – | 16k |
| Jun 24, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,451 | 3% | 17 h | – | 15k |
| Jun 21, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,714 | 8% | 7.8 h | 7.2 h | 14k |
| Jul 13, 2015 | No storm report | 588 | 1% | 24 h | – | 13k |
| Apr 20, 2023 | Winter storm | 1,950 | 4% | 20 h | – | 13k |
| Dec 26, 2016 | Ice storm | 2,741 | 6% | 8.8 h | 20 h | 13k |
| Jul 9, 2020 | Tornadoes | 1,767 | 4% | 10 h | – | 12k |
| Jul 9, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 3,267 | 7% | 9.0 h | 6.8 h | 11k |
| Jun 22, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,938 | 9% | 5.0 h | 3.5 h | 10k |
| Jul 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,454 | 6% | 8.5 h | 6.2 h | 10k |
| Jul 31, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,938 | 7% | 6.0 h | 5.8 h | 9.8k |
| Jul 12, 2015 | Tornadoes | 3,202 | 7% | 7.8 h | 14 h | 9.6k |
| Jun 25, 2025 | No storm report | 885 | 2% | 10 h | – | 9.0k |
| Jun 6, 2017 | No storm report | 1,274 | 3% | 6.8 h | – | 8.5k |
| Oct 5, 2021 | No storm report | 1,410 | 3% | 5.2 h | – | 7.4k |
| Mar 5, 2018 | Winter storm | 3,709 | 8% | 7.0 h | 5.2 h | 7.3k |
| Jan 4, 2018 | No storm report | 2,452 | 6% | 4.8 h | 1.0 h | 7.2k |
| Aug 1, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 2,458 | 6% | 5.2 h | 4.2 h | 7.2k |
| Oct 9, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,357 | 5% | 3.2 h | 1.5 h | 7.0k |
| Apr 6, 2023 | No storm report | 2,754 | 6% | 3.0 h | 2.5 h | 6.7k |
| May 21, 2025 | No storm report | 6,049 | 14% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 6.6k |
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 Otter Tail from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 59%
- No storm on record 33%
- Winter storm 5.3%
- Tornadoes 1.2%
- Windstorm 0.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Otter Tail
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Todd-Wadena Electric Coop | MN | 73 | 66 | 0.83 | 11.0 | 128k |
| ALLETE, Inc. | Investor Owned | 143 | 102 | 1.23 | 15.9 | 127k |
| Otter Tail Power Co | Investor Owned | 557 | 136 | 1.74 | 11.3 | 50k |
| Lake Region Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | 227 | 121 | 1.55 | 13.6 | 27k |
| City of Wadena | MN | 2 | – | 0.02 | 9.5 | 22k |
| Runestone Electric Assn | Cooperative | 135 | 116 | 1.57 | 14.8 | 14k |
| City of Henning | MN | – | – | – | – | 4.1k |
| 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.
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 43,936 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 →