Man im not allowed to have any fun on here!!!! ok fine now the tech answer:
Rain fade is caused by absorption of RF by Rain,Snow, and Ice and usually only noticed in frequencies above 11GHz.
The issue our friend above is most likely seeing is degradation of the signal caused by electromagnetic interference seen at the leading edge of a storm. Since he stated that his service usually restores before the rain gets to him.
Sorry. Guess again.
Moisture in the atmosphere (not just rain, but clouds and relative humidity attenuate signal. If there is enough water in the air in the form of clouds or whatever, the attenuation can be enough to attenuate the signal enough to cause what is called "rain fade" Rain itself has ZERO to do with rain fade. It is "moisture" or "cloud" fade really.
Electromagnetic interference has nothing to do with it.
It is really, really simple. Nothing fancy. Nothing "electrical" about it.
1) Microwaves at that frequency cannot pass through water molecules without being attenuated.
2) Weather in most of the contiguous US comes fromt he west.
3) Most people in the US live east of 110° and even more live east of 119°. Since the weather approaches from the west AND the leading edge of a storm generally has the largest, thicksets clouds holding more moisture than the rest of the storm.
THEREFORE: The signal is blocked by the leading edge of the storm because of the large billowy clouds holding a 10 to 12 mile thick layer of nothing but water molecules. There signal is blocked before the storm even gets to you! As the storm passes overhead, the thick part of the clouds is no longer blocking signal which is coming from the west and not directly above. The rain is coming down HARD, but the 12 mile thick layer of clouds is no longer obstructing the signal. It could be raining cats and dogs from clouds directly above you, but they are no longer in the path between you and the satellite.
---Quick experiment: At about 5 pm on a partly cloudy day, are you in the shade of a cloud directly above you, or one off to the west?
Can electrical interference have an effect on the signal. Yup. But it is momentary. A lightning strike near you and the LNB (possibly even the cable running from the LNB to the receiver) will pick up enough electrical interference by induction to momentarily (a second or so) lose signal lock. However when that happens, it is not a good idea to complain about signal loss. It's a good idea to turn off and UNPLUG all your electrical equipment like receivers, computers, etc. until the storm passes.
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Non Tech answer:
I have dish network with a 3LNB dish 1000.2 and a 1LNB dish 500. To this day I have not had any issues with storms. In the last 2 years I have had maybe 1 or 2 loss of signals for maybe a few seconds each. I think alignment has a lot to do with it and also placement of your dish. Mine happens to be about 110 feet from my house at the back of the property next to a storage shed. This keeps most of the snow, rain, and wind away from the dishes. Perhaps that is helping or maybe im just darn lucky.
In the future NO MORE FUN I promise.
I did get a good chuckle out of the original explanation. And honestly I wasn't sure if it was a joke or you were serious.
You are correct that a well-aimed, larger dish will rarely have any rain fade events. But remember that the actual rain has nearly NOTHING to do with rain fade. Really. No joke. It is the clouds ladened with a 10-mile thick blanket of water that blocks the signal. It is just that simple.
See ya
Tony
