Get notified of large unexplained blackouts
GridAlert watches the most populated parts of the 50 states for large power outages that nothing ordinary explains, because a cyberattack on the grid would look like one at first. Judging by 2024 and 2025, expect about 8 or 9 alerts a year. Most turn out to be storms, failed equipment or bad readings, so an alert means look closer, not that there's been an attack.
Checking this device…
- utility maps
- 227
- metro areas
- 196
- of their customers
- 83%
- between readings
- 5 min
How it works
Where GridAlert looks
GridAlert reads public outage data for the 196 metro areas of 250,000 or more people in the 50 states and Washington, DC, covering 83% of their customers. When an outage jumps, it checks everything that could explain it in the same counties at the same time. Some large utilities publish no usable data, so coverage isn't complete, and territories aren't included: Puerto Rico's grid fails on its own so often that its outages would drown out the rest.
- 01
Outage maps
227 utility maps and the Department of Energy's ODIN feed, read every five minutes.
- 02
GridAlert
Places every outage in one of 196 metro areas and watches for a sudden jump.
- 03
Cause checks
Weather, wildfires, earthquakes, grid operators and utility labels, in the same counties at the same time.
- 04
Alert
Sent to everyone signed up, with news and posts to read. A follow-up says when that changes.
Outages
What’s out, and where
- Utility outage maps:
- the 227 maps utilities publish for their customers, mostly through Kubra and ArcGIS, read every five minutes.
- DOE’s ODIN feed:
- outages utilities report to the Department of Energy, filling in where there’s no map to read.
- Census and EIA records:
- which utility serves which counties, so each outage lands in the right one of the 196 metro areas.
Causes
Checked in the same counties at the same time
- National Weather Service:
- storm, wind, ice and flood warnings. Site
- Storm Prediction Center:
- reports of tornadoes, hail and damaging wind. Site
- Aviation Weather Center:
- gusts measured at airports, which count when they reach 45 mph during a Wind Advisory. Site
- National Interagency Fire Center:
- wildfires burning now. Site
- US Geological Survey:
- earthquakes. Site
- Grid operators:
- orders to cut power from California ISO, ISO New England, MISO, New York ISO, PJM and Southwest Power Pool, which say who cut it but not why.
- Utility maps:
- the cause a utility lists, for its own customers only.
- NOAA Space Weather:
- severe geomagnetic storms, noted but never enough on their own. Site
Context
Shown with an alert, never changes the cause
- GDELT Project:
- news about outages, indexed every 15 minutes. Site
- CISA:
- the federal cybersecurity agency’s news and alerts. Site
- Claude:
- reads the stories after an alert to record who said what. Every quote shown was found in the article it links to, which shows the article said it, not that it’s true.
- X and Threads:
- links for you to search. GridAlert doesn’t read either.
On an outage of 50,000 or more customers, a utility's map can't settle the cause alone. Labels are often filled in automatically, so an equipment label never does, and a weather or planned label needs a weather source to agree.
When it sends an alert
- Unexplained blackout:
- 50,000 or more customers go out within 30 minutes with nothing ordinary found, or 150,000 or more at any speed. Speed matters most: storms build over hours, while failures and deliberate acts hit at once.
- Simultaneous blackouts:
- 3 or more unrelated areas of 10,000 or more customers starting within 30 minutes, with nothing ordinary found in any of them.
- Reported as deliberate:
- a headline points to a deliberate act, and a major outlet, two separate outlets or a federal agency reports it. It's marked unconfirmed and doesn't change the cause.
The first two wait up to an hour for the count to move, because a count stuck on one number is often a bad reading. A follow-up says when a cause turns up or the power comes back. Smaller outages, about a dozen a day, are tracked but never sent.
Reading an alert
- Customers affected:
- the most out at once. A customer is one utility account, roughly one electric meter, and usually one household.
- % explained:
- how much of the outage has a known cause. A storm, wildfire, earthquake or grid operator order in the area accounts for all of it. A utility only accounts for the customers it names a cause for, so an outage can be partly explained.
- Causes:
- only what explains the outage. Unknown means nothing has been found yet.
- X and Threads logos:
- open the latest posts about a power cut in that area. News takes hours to cover a blackout, so this is often the fastest way to learn more.
Checking itself
A broken source shouldn't look like a quiet day. Every outside service is read hourly, feeds that stop updating are flagged, and alerts are held and retried if they can't be sent. If GridAlert itself stops, a separate service warns its owner.
Your alerts
Signing up stores only what your browser needs to receive alerts: no name, email or phone number. Alerts come straight from GridAlert through your browser's own notification service. Turning alerts off, or removing GridAlert from your Home Screen, stops them.
More detail
- Alert history: every outage tracked, and what was sent
- Map: where the power is out right now
- Metros: each metro area, with its utilities and recent history
- Coverage: every feed, its status, and the outside services checked each hour
- Settings: alert levels and the owner’s channels