Bad Weather and TV Signal

Weather affects TV signals in a variety of ways depending on whether you use a satellite dish, a rooftop antenna, or cable. While modern digital signals are more robust than old analog ones, they are still susceptible to "interference" and "attenuation" (weakening of the signal).

Satellite TV is the most sensitive to immediate weather changes because the signal has to travel thousands of miles through the Earth's atmosphere.2

• Rain & Snow: Water droplets absorb and scatter the high-frequency radio waves used by satellites.3 This is known as Rain Fade.4 Heavy downpours or thick, wet snow can cause the picture to pixelate or disappear entirely.5
  
• Dish Blockage: If snow or ice builds up directly on the face of your satellite dish, it can reflect the signal away from the receiver (the LNB arm), leading to a total loss of signal even after the storm has passed.

For those using an over-the-air (OTA) antenna, "clear" weather can sometimes be more disruptive than a storm.

• High Pressure & Temperature Inversions: During periods of high pressure and calm weather, a layer of warm air can trap cooler air near the ground.6 This creates a "duct" that allows TV signals to travel much further than intended.7 This is called Tropospheric Ducting.
  
  
  • The Problem: Your antenna might pick up a signal from a distant city on the same frequency as your local station, causing them to "fight" and resulting in a frozen or broken picture.8
    
• Wind: Wind doesn't blow the signal away, but it can physically vibrate your antenna or blow tree branches into the line of sight, causing "multipath interference" where the signal bounces off moving objects and reaches your TV at slightly different times.

• Don't Retune: If your signal goes bad during a storm or a heatwave, do not auto-scan for channels. Once the weather clears, the signal will usually return on its own.9 If you retune, you may lose your saved channel list.10
  
• Check the LNB: If you lose satellite signal after a snowstorm, check if there is a clump of snow sitting in the "bowl" of the dish. Gently clearing it often restores the picture immediately.
• Secure Mounts: If your signal drops every time it gets breezy, your antenna or dish likely needs to be tightened or braced to prevent "micro-movements."11    

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