Power outage history
Marathon County Wisconsin
2.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
39th most of 72 in Wisconsin 55% 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 Marathon's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2021 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.5 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Marathon, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 14, 2022 | Winter storm | 12,628 | 16% | 2.1 d | 30 h | 232k |
| Jul 28, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 11,577 | 14% | 36 h | 19 h | 173k |
| Jul 19, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 7,681 | 10% | 2.6 d | 2.2 d | 164k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 8,620 | 11% | 35 h | 27 h | 137k |
| Mar 30, 2025 | Ice storm | 6,234 | 8% | 38 h | 24 h | 123k |
| Jun 5, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 9,290 | 12% | 20 h | 16 h | 105k |
| Jun 15, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 11,532 | 14% | 18 h | 15 h | 93k |
| Aug 29, 2016 | No storm report | 2,653 | 3% | 27 h | – | 72k |
| Apr 10, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 6,446 | 8% | 13 h | 11 h | 57k |
| May 22, 2019 | Windstorm | 10,558 | 13% | 13 h | 8.0 h | 54k |
| Mar 8, 2017 | Windstorm | 3,986 | 5% | 24 h | – | 44k |
| May 21, 2024 | Tornadoes | 3,291 | 4% | 26 h | – | 43k |
| Nov 27, 2019 | Winter storm | 4,595 | 6% | 9.5 h | 7.5 h | 31k |
| May 25, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 11,541 | 14% | 7.5 h | 1.5 h | 27k |
| Jul 18, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 7,689 | 10% | 5.0 h | 3.0 h | 26k |
| Jun 25, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 5,333 | 7% | 8.5 h | 10 h | 23k |
| Jul 27, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 8,448 | 10% | 2.0 h | 48 min | 16k |
| Jun 19, 2020 | No storm report | 11,369 | 14% | 1.2 h | 9.5 h | 14k |
| Oct 20, 2020 | No storm report | 2,709 | 3% | 7.5 h | – | 12k |
| Mar 7, 2017 | No storm report | 1,841 | 2% | 8.5 h | – | 12k |
| Jul 27, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,056 | 3% | 7.8 h | – | 12k |
| Jul 21, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,801 | 3% | 6.2 h | – | 11k |
| Mar 26, 2022 | No storm report | 1,415 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 9.5k |
| May 15, 2025 | Tornadoes | 2,271 | 3% | 4.8 h | – | 9.4k |
| Jan 17, 2015 | No storm report | 4,951 | 6% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 8.7k |
| Jul 13, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 3,332 | 4% | 4.5 h | – | 8.4k |
| Oct 11, 2016 | No storm report | 4,168 | 5% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 8.3k |
| Nov 14, 2022 | No storm report | 4,433 | 6% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 8.2k |
| Feb 6, 2023 | No storm report | 6,045 | 8% | 1.8 h | 12 min | 8.2k |
| Aug 11, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 4,980 | 6% | 3.2 h | 2.0 h | 8.2k |
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 Marathon from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 40%
- Winter storm 19%
- No storm on record 16%
- Windstorm 13%
- Ice storm 8.3%
- Tornadoes 3.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Marathon
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 |
| Wisconsin Public Service Corp | Investor Owned | 630 | 107 | 1.44 | 17.2 | 416k |
| Northern States Power Co | Investor Owned | 309 | 110 | 1.15 | 15.6 | 223k |
| Central Wisconsin Elec Coop | WI | 3,484 | – | 2.86 | 17.8 | 60k |
| Taylor Electric Coop | WI | 38 | 30 | – | 14.3 | 56k |
| City of Marshfield | Municipal | 13 | 10 | 0.14 | 10.3 | 12k |
| Clark Electric Coop | Cooperative | – | – | – | 14.4 | 9.6k |
| Village of Stratford | WI | – | – | – | – | 5.7k |
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 80,598 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 →