This study proposes a novel method for signal detection and feature extraction based on the spectral correlation function, enabling improved characterization of grid-signal dis tortions. Our approach differs from existing treatments of signal distortion in its analysis of the varied spectral content of signals observed in real-world scenarios. The method we propose has state-of-the-art discriminative power that provides meaningful and understandable characterizations of various grid events and anomalies. To validate the approach, we use real world data from the Grid Event Signature Library, which is maintained jointly by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.