Microsoft confirmed an Azure investigation after severe thunderstorms caused widespread power outage
Thousands of Microsoft Copilot users ran into problems this morning as the company’s AI assistant went offline amid a broader Azure outage tied to severe thunderstorm-related power failures. More than 2,600 users had reported problems on Downdetector by late morning, with reports continuing to climb as the hours passed.
Microsoft confirmed on its Azure status page that it is investigating an incident affecting multiple services. The company attributed the disruption to widespread power outages caused by severe thunderstorms, warning that customers could experience increased latency and intermittent connectivity, including timeouts when attempting to connect to resources hosted on the platform.
Who is affected and how
The Copilot app has been the primary pain point for affected users. Of the reports logged on Downdetector, approximately 66% involved the mobile application, while roughly 33% pointed to issues with the Copilot website. Reports began surfacing after 10 a.m. Eastern time and continued growing through midday, reaching more than 600 in some tracking windows before climbing further as users on the West Coast started their day.
The Azure disruption is not limited to Copilot. Microsoft confirmed the outage is affecting a wide range of services on its cloud platform, including Azure Functions, Azure Database for MySQL flexible servers, Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server, Azure Databricks, Redis, Azure SQL, Azure Managed Grafana, Virtual Machine, Virtual Machine Scale Set, Azure Kubernetes Service, Storage and Application Insights.
User reports indicate problems with Microsoft Copilot since 10:53 AM EDT.
How is it affecting you? #MicrosoftCopilotDown— Downdetector (@downdetector) May 29, 2026
What users can do in the meantime
Microsoft has not provided a timeline for full restoration of services. Given that the root cause has been identified as infrastructure-level power failure rather than a software bug, resolution may depend on how quickly physical power can be restored and systems stabilized across affected data center regions.
Users experiencing issues with Copilot can try switching between the app and the web version, though both have been affected. Refreshing the connection or attempting access during lower-traffic periods may yield intermittent success. Checking the Azure status page directly will provide the most current information on which services have been restored as Microsoft works through the incident.
SOURCE: GV Wire