Power outage history
Lafayette County Wisconsin
1.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
64th most of 72 in Wisconsin 80% 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 Lafayette's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 3.1 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Lafayette, 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 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,569 | 30% | 35 h | 8.0 h | 23k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 623 | 7% | 15 h | 19 h | 7.8k |
| May 15, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 247 | 3% | 16 h | – | 3.9k |
| Apr 14, 2018 | No storm report | 1,249 | 15% | 4.0 h | 5.8 h | 3.4k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 390 | 5% | 14 h | – | 3.4k |
| Aug 27, 2017 | No storm report | 1,422 | 17% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 3.2k |
| Nov 16, 2018 | No storm report | 712 | 8% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 2.8k |
| Sep 1, 2018 | No storm report | 1,345 | 16% | 5.0 h | 30 min | 2.7k |
| Feb 19, 2016 | No storm report | 978 | 12% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 2.4k |
| Oct 10, 2017 | No storm report | 1,876 | 22% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 2.3k |
| Jan 31, 2019 | Winter storm | 1,419 | 17% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 2.1k |
| Jul 20, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 820 | 10% | 4.2 h | 30 min | 2.0k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 366 | 4% | 6.2 h | – | 1.8k |
| Jun 15, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 230 | 3% | 8.0 h | – | 1.7k |
| Jul 3, 2025 | No storm report | 746 | 9% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 1.7k |
| Apr 26, 2021 | No storm report | 1,325 | 16% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.7k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | No storm report | 683 | 8% | 2.2 h | 30 min | 1.5k |
| Mar 11, 2017 | No storm report | 483 | 6% | 4.5 h | 4.5 h | 1.3k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | Tornadoes | 614 | 7% | 4.5 h | 2.2 h | 1.3k |
| Aug 11, 2023 | No storm report | 855 | 10% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.3k |
| Mar 14, 2019 | Flooding | 260 | 3% | 3.8 h | – | 975 |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 200 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 972 |
| Jun 28, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 535 | 6% | 2.5 h | 2.2 h | 966 |
| Jul 20, 2018 | No storm report | 418 | 5% | 2.2 h | – | 934 |
| Feb 8, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 411 | 5% | 2.2 h | – | 924 |
| Jul 4, 2022 | No storm report | 617 | 7% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 922 |
| Jul 22, 2019 | No storm report | 896 | 11% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 896 |
| Feb 24, 2019 | Windstorm | 377 | 4% | 4.2 h | – | 866 |
| Apr 30, 2019 | No storm report | 305 | 4% | 3.2 h | – | 852 |
| Jan 31, 2019 | Winter storm | 475 | 6% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 831 |
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 Lafayette from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 44%
- No storm on record 37%
- Windstorm 6.7%
- Winter storm 5.3%
- Flooding 2.8%
- Tornadoes 1.9%
- Ice storm 1.4%
- Heat 0.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Lafayette
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Wisconsin territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Power & Light Co | Investor Owned | 96 | 75 | 0.79 | 18.5 | 441k |
| Scenic Rivers Energy Coop | Cooperative | 105 | 105 | 1.17 | 15.5 | 14k |
| City of Shullsburg | WI | – | – | – | – | 5.1k |
| Village of Hazel Green | WI | – | – | – | – | 4.6k |
| Village of Belmont | WI | – | – | – | – | 4.0k |
| City of Argyle | WI | – | – | – | – | 3.7k |
| Village of Benton | WI | – | – | – | – | 3.6k |
| City of Cuba City | Municipal | – | – | – | 12.0 | 998 |
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
- Stephenson, IL 7.2 h
- Jo Daviess, IL 4.3 h
- Iowa 3.3 h
- Green 1.9 h
- Grant 1.4 h
- Lafayette (this county) 1.3 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 8,475 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 →