The expert spoke about the impact of frost on communications and equipment

Navigation in the phone or car stops working, and the phone may lose connection at temperatures below -20 degrees. To avoid unnecessary problems, you need to protect your equipment from hypothermia. Alexey Yurasov, Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Nanoelectronics at RTU MIREA, told about this on Monday, February 2.

He explained that the main problem lies in the battery — in the cold, the chemical reactions inside the battery slow down, and the device begins to lack power.

"In order not to run out of power, it goes into austerity mode: it turns off the most energy-intensive modules, including the cellular signal booster and part of the GPS receiver. Therefore, the message "no network" may appear on the screen or the map stops updating the location," Yurasov said in an interview with Lenta.Ru .

He added that in severe frost, high-frequency components responsible for communication and satellite reception may also malfunction, the expert added. The expert clarified that even a microscopic ice film on the internal contacts or the antenna in the case impairs signal reception — this applies to any device using GPS or Glonass: a smartphone, tablet or smartwatch.

The expert advised to protect the device from hypothermia as much as possible.

"If you need to use navigation on the street, keep your smartphone or other device not in your hand, but in the inside pocket of your jacket and take it out only for a short period of time," he said.

In the car, you should not put your phone on the cold panel by the windshield and talk on the phone for a long time on the street. If the gadget is turned off, you do not need to try to charge it immediately or heat it on the heating battery, as this can lead to condensation inside the device.

On long trips, it makes sense to set a route in advance and download offline maps, and power navigation from the on-board network via a car-holder with charging, so as not to strain the cooled phone battery, Yurasov concluded.

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On the same day, Tatiana Pozdnyakova, a leading specialist at the Meteonosti news agency, told Izvestia that the cold weather in the metropolitan region would continue throughout the week, including weekends, RT reports. She clarified that the most severe frosts are expected in the middle of the week, when the weather will be influenced by the periphery of the anticyclone.

Pozdnyakova said that this year's warming is expected only by the end of March. 360.ru .

Earlier in the day, Philemon the groundhog from the Leningrad region did not wake up on Groundhog Day for the first time in 10 years. It is believed that the animal on this day "predicts" when spring will come. If a groundhog gets out of its hole, gets scared of its shadow and hides, winter will last 1.5 months. If the weather is cloudy and the animal does not see shadows, spring will be early.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.