High impedance fault (HIF) detection and location accuracy is provided. An HIF has random, irregular, and unsymmetrical characteristics, making such a fault difficult to detect in distribution grids via conventional relay measurements with relatively low resolution and accuracy. Embodiments disclosed herein provide a stochastic HIF monitoring and location scheme using high-resolution time-synchronized data in micro phasor measurement units (μ-PMUs) for distribution network protection. In particular, a fault detection and location process is systematically designed based on feature selections, semi-supervised learning (SSL), and probabilistic learning.