I would guess there is less interference between a ground station and a satellite than between two ground stations. Two main reasons: 1) The storm would have t

I would guess there is less interference between a ground station and a satellite than between two ground stations. Two main reasons: 1) The storm would have to be right on top of the ground station to be in the line of sight when talking to a satellite. For the 3g case, the storm could be anywhere along the 15km between the two ground stations. 2) Storms typically cover a larger area horizontally than they do vertically, so for most angles, communicating with a satellite should go through less of the cloud than horizontal 3g communication. I'm sure there could be storms where this is not true (eg a tall thunderstorm directly above the ground station), but my guess is that such storms are more rare.