EVERETT — Storm season is approaching — and with it, the seasonal power outages caused by downed tree limbs and power lines.

This year, Snohomish County Public Utility District customers can check online for the status of an outage affecting them.

The outage tracker is a new tool on the PUD’s existing outage map. The map displays details about outages such as the cause, start time, number of customers affected and estimated time of restoration.

Now, customers can also check where the status of repairs to fix the problem.

The tracker moves through fives steps: outage reported, we’re investigating, pending crew assignment, crew assigned for repairs and power is restored.

Once an outage has been reported, customers can click on the information button to learn more about what is happening at that time.

PUD crews use iPads in the field to update information on the map, according to a district news release. Other staff off site schedule work and organize restoration efforts.

Thunderstorms this September, which left 300 without power, might signal an early storm season, PUD spokesperson Aaron Swaney said.

Last year, most outages happened in December, Swaney said. Throughout the month, 132,488 customers had some kind of storm-related outage ranging from moments to days without power.

To report an outage, call the PUD at 425-783-1001 or go to outagemap.snopud.com.

Julia-Grace Sanders: 425-339-3439; jgsanders@heraldnet.com.