Does rain affect WI-FI? – Detailed Answer

In this day and age, WI-FI touches the lives of many. No matter what we are doing in virtual space, most of us need WI-FI to be connected to the web of networks. When the Wi-Fi slows down, so does our daily routine.

We can’t sit on social media sites, watch videos on YouTube, or play our favorite games in virtual space as we usually do if the WI-FI signal is hindering the speed of the internet. Generally, all these modern abnormalities build up frustrations among WIFI users.

In some cases, people’s frustrations even lead them to blame natural phenomena such as rain and snow.

In other words, some people believe that rain can affect the Wi-Fi signal. However, the facts lay in murky grounds. Concisely, no one knows exactly whether the rain affects WI-FI or not. So, I did online research to solve this mystery.

Here are the pieces of information that I found during my research:

Rain does affect WI-FI signal both directly and indirectly, however, only in the certain cases indicated below:

If there are more WI-FI users on rainy days. 

If your Wi-Fi slows down during rain, you should not only blame the weather but also the people who are using the internet.

On rainy days, most people stay at home and use their Wi-Fi to watch movies, download books, or sit on the social networking sites. No one wants to go outside on rain unless there is a pressing urgency. 

All that heavy usage can cause overload to a shared bandwidth. In other words, when more people are connected to your home or office WI-FI router, less internet speed you will get.  

Simple solution for this problem is to disconnect the devices that you are not using at that moment. Once again, less connected devices there are, more WI-FI speed you will get.

Moisture from rainwater can creep into the internet cable that connects your WI-FI router.

Moisture-related corrosion is the primary enemy of internet cables around the world. Especially, older cables are susceptible to moisture related-corrosion. 

If you suspect that rainwater got to the cables that are connecting your facility, you can call and request technical support from your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Please note: Even if you suspect that rain is the reason for the slow WI-FI, it does not give you a reason to do an investigation by digging the wet ground yourself. Such actions can be dangerous, especially if you do not have a good electrical experience. Therefore, let the technicians handle that problem.

Rain can lower the strength of outdoor WI-FI signal. 

For example, according to Techwalla, rain can affect light-pole-based public WI-FI. They explain that tiny rain droplets absorb WI-FI radio frequency and partially blocks the WI-FI signal getting to the destination.

Indoor WI-FI is immune to rain since the moisture can’t get to it. 

If your indoor WI-FI slows down during rain, you probably need to suspect other causes. Because rain may not interfere with indoor routers.

However, as mentioned above, there can be other reasons for such slowdown such as moisture getting to the cable connecting your Wi-Fi router with the ISP network or having high number of connected devices to the WIFI at the same time.  

The secondary effects of rain can also affect Outdoor public WI-FI.

We all know that sometimes rain showers come with other natural phenomena such as strong winds and tornadoes. In turn, those weather abnormalities can easily knock down the WIFI equipment such as broadcast towers or can create power outages in some areas. All these secondary effects of rain can easily affect the outdoor WI-FI signal.

Make sure you are not moving away from your WIFI router during the rainy days. 

Sometimes people unconsciously blame the rain for the poor WI-FI signal, although they themselves cause internet slowdowns.

Let’s be honest. During rain or other storms, some people remain in their cozy beds. If you are one of those people, make sure the distance between your bedroom and the WI-FI router is at an adequate range.

More you distance yourself from the WI-FI router, your device will get less signal, which in turn, will cause internet slowdown.

Did you know?

Did you know that it is a bad idea to put your wireless router next to the large metallic appliances such as a refrigerator or microwave oven? Because metal devices absorb the WI-FI signals and eventually weakens its strength.

Also, it is not recommended to install WIFI routers next to the fish tank either. Because its water content can absorb the wireless radio waves.

Also, keep in mind that any devices that use 2.4 GHz frequency can interfere with the WIFI signal. Namely, some of those devices are cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, baby monitors, microwave ovens, etc.…

That is all I got on the topic of the WIFI signal getting impacted by rain. I used theoretical explanations to answer the question. That means although rain affects WIFI signal theoretically, its impact will be very minor. In some cases, rain’s impact on WIFI is almost unnoticeable. However, major rain-related WIFI slowdowns may be the result of secondary effects of rain as mentioned above.

You are welcome to share your experiences and suggestion regarding how rain can affect the WIFI signal.