Power outage history
Pope County Minnesota
3.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
20th most of 54 in Minnesota 50% 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 Pope'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 9.8 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Pope, 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 | 1,611 | 27% | 27 h | 11 h | 34k |
| Jul 27, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,273 | 21% | 18 h | 17 h | 22k |
| Nov 25, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,756 | 30% | 11 h | 6.8 h | 7.2k |
| May 1, 2023 | No storm report | 2,582 | 44% | 4.0 h | 2.5 h | 6.8k |
| Jun 20, 2025 | No storm report | 1,792 | 30% | 4.5 h | 1.2 h | 6.2k |
| May 27, 2024 | No storm report | 748 | 13% | 7.2 h | 1.0 h | 5.4k |
| Aug 10, 2025 | No storm report | 756 | 13% | 6.2 h | 7.8 h | 4.6k |
| Jun 2, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,087 | 18% | 7.2 h | 6.0 h | 3.6k |
| Jun 1, 2025 | No storm report | 956 | 16% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 3.3k |
| Jul 25, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 584 | 10% | 14 h | 9.0 h | 3.3k |
| Aug 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 547 | 9% | 8.2 h | 4.5 h | 2.9k |
| Jan 30, 2019 | Winter storm | 819 | 14% | 5.0 h | 4.8 h | 2.9k |
| Jun 20, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 275 | 5% | 11 h | – | 2.7k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | No storm report | 919 | 16% | 2.8 h | 1.8 h | 2.5k |
| May 3, 2025 | No storm report | 757 | 13% | 3.0 h | 1.0 h | 2.3k |
| Oct 18, 2022 | No storm report | 1,216 | 21% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 2.2k |
| Oct 8, 2019 | No storm report | 177 | 3% | 11 h | – | 1.9k |
| Jun 22, 2017 | No storm report | 893 | 15% | 1.8 h | 48 min | 1.6k |
| Jun 11, 2017 | No storm report | 179 | 3% | 9.0 h | – | 1.6k |
| May 30, 2022 | Tornadoes | 235 | 4% | 11 h | – | 1.5k |
| Jun 9, 2020 | No storm report | 275 | 5% | 5.5 h | – | 1.5k |
| Jul 12, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 749 | 13% | 3.8 h | 8.2 h | 1.5k |
| Aug 20, 2021 | No storm report | 731 | 12% | 2.0 h | 30 min | 1.3k |
| Aug 12, 2020 | No storm report | 206 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 1.3k |
| Jul 29, 2022 | No storm report | 718 | 12% | 1.8 h | 1.2 h | 1.3k |
| Jul 23, 2022 | No storm report | 240 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 1.2k |
| Jan 25, 2018 | No storm report | 2,825 | 48% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 1.2k |
| Sep 4, 2025 | No storm report | 250 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 1.1k |
| Jun 7, 2024 | No storm report | 337 | 6% | 3.2 h | 30 min | 1.1k |
| Aug 14, 2015 | No storm report | 315 | 5% | 3.0 h | 7.2 h | 945 |
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 Pope from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 48%
- No storm on record 43%
- Winter storm 7.8%
- Tornadoes 1.4%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Pope
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 |
| Stearns Cooperative Elec Assn | Cooperative | 107 | 97 | 0.96 | 14.1 | 26k |
| Runestone Electric Assn | Cooperative | 135 | 116 | 1.57 | 14.8 | 14k |
| Agralite Electric Coop | Cooperative | 255 | 73 | 1.99 | 13.7 | 4.3k |
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 5,930 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 →