Summer heat – it wilts flowers, melts ice cream, and makes your internet stop working. Two of these statements are true, but the last one not so much. While summer heatwaves can affect your internet, it’s not a common issue and usually easily addressed. Here’s how heat can affect internet connectivity, and what to do if you suspect the heat’s wilting your online connection.

One common issue during heatwaves are blackouts or brownouts from overloaded electric grids. Electricity powers the towers that provide your internet signal. Electricity also powers the routers and computers you use to receive those signals. Unexpected power outages can negatively affect all of the above. High tech operating systems are complex and in normal conditions when they are shut off will go through a standard shutdown sequence to make sure all running processes have correctly terminated before powering off. A sudden loss of electricity can interrupt important signals and connections and cause systems to experience slow restarts or even leave them in an inoperable state that requires technical support.