Xrhrft

So, I’m writing a sci-fi story, which has a setting which involves human colonists crash landing on a massive, icy hellhole. The weather is extreme on the surface, and because of it, wireless communication is useless, so for settlements to connect with each other, they need to physically move messages to other settlements, or use wired communication.

This is meant to give everything an air of mystery and desperation. The humans had been able to survive for hundreds of years, stranded without the ability to call for help. This brings them back to the medieval age, practically.

So, what I’m asking essentially, is there any way that a planet’s climate could block all/most wireless signals? Without that, the worldbuilding of the story pretty much falls apart.

Sand storms can obstacle microwave communications (ref):

Microwave attenuation increases with particle size and concentration, and moisture, as does phase shift. Refractive indices and loss tangents increase with particle density and moisture content multipath propagations. Severe local sandstorms can incapacitate terrestrial microwave radio links, especially in summer when humidity is high.

Dust storms on Mars are known for affecting communication link.

A land swiped by constant sandstorms is indeed desperate, though you need to find a way to make it long term survivable.

No, it is not possible for a natural climate phenomenon to block all wireless communication.

There is a tremendous range of useful wireless frequencies. You can find phenomena that block some of the ranges in common use on this planet, but nothing will block all frequencies.

Furthermore, nothing prevents people from using a series of towers to pick up a weak signal, amplify and rebroadcast it. In fact, that is exactly what we used to do in the US and Europe. With this method you can always send a focused signal to the next tower in the chain that will be successful.

By selecting appropriate frequencies, any natural blocking could certainly be bypassed.

If you want to jam signals by transmitting a stronger signal at the same frequency, you can of course do so. Buy I cannot imagine any natural source of intense broad spectrum noise on any inhabitable planet.

Not a climate feature in the strict sense, but the lack of ionosphere would be a big obstacle to long-distance communications.

Without the possibility for radiowaves to bounce against it, it wouldn't be possible to broadcast to a receiver behind the horizon (of course, you could partially overcome this problem by building very high pylons and placing your antennas on top of them).

In this case, probably you should motivate the lack of ionosphere in a way that doesn't modify the climate of the planet. Maybe low UV radiation from the main star... Or very strong ascensional winds that continuously mix the atmosphere at every height, so that there isn't a ionized stratum of air.

If the planet orbited a flaring red dwarf at a distance that allowed it to keep an atmosphere, but it would be constantly pummeled by solar flares. This could wreck havoc to electronics on the surface, and most life on it as well.

If you play this in with the magnetosphere (I think a weak one would cause the effects you are looking for) and an over saturated ionosphere then RF signals may be hampered. This is not a weather phenomenon, but the sun does play into the climate.