How Well Does Starlink Work in Bad Weather? My Rainy-Day Test

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1, 2026

A cloudy, drizzly day at home in Colorado seemed like a good chance to try something I had been wondering about: how would Starlink Mini and Standard perform with rain in the picture?

I brought out both kits and ran several speed tests. This was light rain and cloud cover, not a thunderstorm or a severe-weather test. Here is what I saw.

How I set things up

Rain was forecast for the next couple of hours, and it was already cloudy and drizzly. I started with the Mini, powered from a portable battery, checked its alignment, and confirmed its software was up to date.

Then I put the Standard antenna in the same location and tested it within about ten minutes of the Mini. The Standard kit is the version five hardware shown in the video, and I had upgraded its service to Residential Max.

If you are sorting out the service options, my residential plan guide walks through the choices discussed in that series. For the connections and app setup, see How to Set Up Starlink at Home.

The Mini: a slower start, then a stronger repeat

On the first run, I described the download speed as roughly half of 300 Mbps—about 150 Mbps. That was my spoken estimate while watching the test.

I ran it again, and the speed climbed through roughly 220–240 Mbps. Later, I referred to about 250 Mbps. So the useful way to describe that repeat is roughly 220–250 Mbps observed during the test.

That second run matters. I had previously seen downloads in the low 200s at this location, so the repeat was broadly comparable to, or above, what I remembered from earlier use. Looking only at the first run would have told an incomplete story.

An upload test appeared too, but I did not supply a numerical upload result in the narration. For a separate test with download and upload results, see my Mini speed-test article.

The Standard: into the 300s, with some variation

With the Standard on Residential Max, one run reached the mid-300 Mbps range. A later run was lower, and another reached the low-to-mid 300s.

I did not narrate a number for the lower run, so I am leaving it as a lower result rather than filling in a figure. The main thing I noticed was that the results moved around even over this short testing session.

The results at a glance

These are approximate download speeds I described during the tests, not a list of exact final readings.

Scroll sideways on a small screen. No numerical upload results, latency readings, or averages were supplied for this comparison.

What does that mean for a normal day online?

Those download observations are encouraging if your rainy-day plans involve watching a movie, listening to music, or browsing while you stay inside. They suggest room for those kinds of activities, rather than a connection limited to checking a few emails.

I ran speed tests in this video, though—not a separate movie-streaming, FaceTime, gaming, or busy-household test. A smooth call also depends on a steady connection and how well it sends data back out. Uploading a large video or photo folder is another job that the download number alone cannot answer.

For more about how I use the smaller kit on trips, take a look at my Starlink Mini review.

So, did the rain slow it down?

I also ran a separate clear-night Standard speed test on 100 Mbps and Residential Max. It was not a controlled weather comparison, so the two sessions do not establish a weather-related speed loss.

I cannot put a number on that from this test. To do that fairly, I would want a comparable clear-day test with the same setup and plans. An advertised maximum speed is not a substitute for that comparison.

I also mentioned possible obstructions from the house, the service plans were not matched, and the results varied between runs. That means this is not a clean contest between the two antennas either. My Mini vs Standard comparison covers the practical reasons I choose one or the other.

What this test does show is that both systems completed speed tests in drizzle, with several strong download observations. It does not measure a rain-related speed loss or establish uninterrupted service for the whole rainy period.

What about heavy rain or snow?

That is a different test from the one I did here. I did not test heavy rain, snow, hail, or blizzard conditions in this video.

Starlink’s general guidance: Its weather support article says moderate to heavy rain, snow, and hail can cause brief service dropouts. That is the company’s guidance, separate from my light-rain observations here.