Power outage history
Washington County Minnesota
4.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
8th most of 54 in Minnesota 25% 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 Washington'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 8.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Washington, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2023 | Winter storm | 22,040 | 20% | 43 h | 38 h | 431k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 28,463 | 26% | 43 h | 26 h | 370k |
| Aug 26, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 27,814 | 25% | 2.1 d | 31 h | 350k |
| Sep 17, 2021 | No storm report | 19,003 | 17% | 34 h | 16 h | 173k |
| Jul 12, 2017 | Tornadoes | 14,745 | 13% | 20 h | 17 h | 129k |
| Aug 29, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 10,286 | 9% | 28 h | 27 h | 122k |
| Jul 27, 2025 | No storm report | 10,127 | 9% | 20 h | 19 h | 122k |
| Aug 14, 2020 | No storm report | 18,933 | 17% | 19 h | 6.2 h | 78k |
| Jul 19, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 20,920 | 19% | 6.8 h | 2.8 h | 48k |
| Aug 15, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 14,220 | 13% | 7.5 h | 3.0 h | 42k |
| Aug 3, 2022 | Heat | 11,022 | 10% | 10 h | 8.5 h | 39k |
| Sep 14, 2025 | No storm report | 18,481 | 17% | 6.0 h | 12 min | 36k |
| Aug 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 7,617 | 7% | 11 h | 12 h | 33k |
| Jun 5, 2024 | No storm report | 18,726 | 17% | 9.2 h | 6.0 h | 32k |
| Aug 6, 2023 | No storm report | 7,050 | 6% | 9.8 h | 2.5 h | 30k |
| Sep 29, 2023 | No storm report | 6,900 | 6% | 10 h | 12 h | 29k |
| Jun 14, 2016 | No storm report | 5,812 | 5% | 5.0 h | 4.5 h | 29k |
| Aug 27, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 9,087 | 8% | 5.2 h | 3.8 h | 28k |
| Jun 19, 2025 | No storm report | 19,445 | 18% | 1.8 h | 30 min | 28k |
| Jul 23, 2021 | No storm report | 5,420 | 5% | 8.8 h | 7.8 h | 26k |
| Sep 5, 2018 | No storm report | 3,174 | 3% | 12 h | – | 26k |
| Jul 15, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 6,288 | 6% | 4.2 h | 2.8 h | 23k |
| Jul 25, 2021 | No storm report | 7,547 | 7% | 3.2 h | 2.5 h | 22k |
| Jul 18, 2015 | No storm report | 2,490 | 2% | 11 h | – | 21k |
| Jun 20, 2022 | Heat | 3,283 | 3% | 8.5 h | – | 21k |
| Jul 18, 2020 | No storm report | 6,475 | 6% | 3.2 h | 12 min | 21k |
| Jun 11, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,362 | 4% | 7.0 h | – | 20k |
| Jul 26, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,460 | 4% | 8.0 h | – | 20k |
| Jun 15, 2017 | No storm report | 6,460 | 6% | 3.5 h | 2.8 h | 19k |
| Jun 14, 2017 | No storm report | 3,385 | 3% | 7.2 h | – | 18k |
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 Washington from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 46%
- Thunderstorms 36%
- Winter storm 16%
- Heat 2.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Washington
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 |
| Connexus Energy | Cooperative | 54 | 38 | 0.55 | 14.1 | 136k |
| East Central Energy | Cooperative | 97 | 82 | 1.03 | 17.6 | 56k |
| City of North St Paul | MN | 1 | 1 | 0.02 | 15.2 | 39k |
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
- Washington (this county) 4.9 h
- St. Croix, WI 4.2 h
- Chisago 3.8 h
- Polk, WI 3.5 h
- Ramsey 3.0 h
- Anoka 2.0 h
- Dakota 1.7 h
- Pierce, WI 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 109,959 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 →