Power outage history
Cherokee County Oklahoma
2.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
70th most of 75 in Oklahoma 57% 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 Cherokee'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 5.2 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Cherokee, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 30, 2018 | Tornadoes | 3,480 | 13% | 2.8 d | 2.7 d | 92k |
| May 19, 2025 | Tornadoes | 2,475 | 9% | 2.0 d | 47 h | 54k |
| Jun 18, 2025 | Tornadoes | 2,648 | 10% | 17 h | 11 h | 24k |
| May 21, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 923 | 3% | 33 h | – | 24k |
| Jun 18, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 3,099 | 11% | 20 h | 19 h | 21k |
| Dec 27, 2015 | Flooding | 1,032 | 4% | 20 h | – | 14k |
| Jul 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,367 | 5% | 18 h | – | 14k |
| Aug 27, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,901 | 7% | 15 h | 12 h | 13k |
| Jun 7, 2025 | Tornadoes | 1,186 | 4% | 15 h | – | 12k |
| Aug 17, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,518 | 9% | 13 h | 10 h | 12k |
| May 15, 2020 | Windstorm | 1,757 | 6% | 9.0 h | 12 h | 6.4k |
| Jul 21, 2015 | No storm report | 1,890 | 7% | 3.0 h | 1.2 h | 5.0k |
| Feb 15, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 816 | 3% | 13 h | – | 4.8k |
| Nov 4, 2024 | Tornadoes | 543 | 2% | 9.2 h | – | 4.6k |
| Jul 29, 2022 | No storm report | 1,313 | 5% | 4.2 h | – | 4.4k |
| Aug 30, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 693 | 3% | 9.2 h | – | 4.0k |
| May 5, 2025 | No storm report | 1,552 | 6% | 2.5 h | 12 min | 3.6k |
| Apr 10, 2019 | No storm report | 2,499 | 9% | 1.8 h | 2.0 h | 3.6k |
| Apr 30, 2025 | No storm report | 1,159 | 4% | 3.0 h | – | 3.4k |
| Dec 26, 2015 | Flooding | 515 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 3.3k |
| May 6, 2022 | Flooding | 418 | 2% | 7.8 h | – | 3.2k |
| Dec 14, 2015 | No storm report | 749 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 3.2k |
| Jul 9, 2024 | Hurricane Beryl | 585 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 3.1k |
| Jun 26, 2024 | No storm report | 1,362 | 5% | 4.8 h | – | 3.0k |
| May 21, 2025 | No storm report | 328 | 1% | 11 h | – | 3.0k |
| May 5, 2022 | Flooding | 973 | 4% | 2.8 h | – | 2.6k |
| Sep 30, 2015 | No storm report | 516 | 2% | 8.5 h | – | 2.5k |
| Sep 25, 2015 | No storm report | 656 | 2% | 7.8 h | – | 2.5k |
| Nov 1, 2025 | No storm report | 1,707 | 6% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 2.5k |
| May 3, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 688 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 2.5k |
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 Cherokee from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tornadoes 48%
- Thunderstorms 26%
- No storm on record 22%
- Flooding 2.4%
- Windstorm 1.6%
- Tropical storm 0.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Cherokee
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Oklahoma territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co | Investor Owned | 237 | 145 | 1.71 | 12.5 | 716k |
| Public Service Co of Oklahoma | Investor Owned | 200 | 98 | 1.48 | 14.2 | 506k |
| Tahlequah Public Works Authority | OK | – | – | – | 9.4 | 69k |
| Northeast Oklahoma Electric Co | Cooperative | – | – | – | 13.8 | 38k |
| Lake Region Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 317 | 108 | 1.50 | 13.0 | 25k |
| Cookson Hills Elec Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 488 | 259 | 2.32 | 15.7 | 18k |
| Ozarks Electric Coop Corp | Cooperative | 1,043 | 132 | 2.71 | 14.9 | 12k |
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 27,388 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 →