Hail in Samoa was no hoax

SAMOA – Samoa has been hit by a hail storm so rare that it was believed to be a hoax by many of the nation’s inhabitants.

The islands of Samoa lie in the tropical Pacific Ocean, where the average temperature at this time of year is 29°C.

But on Friday evening last week the ice age came – a storm struck the eastern side of the island of Savai’i, accompanied by heavy rain and strong, cold wind gusts.

Locals were stunned when the rain drops began to freeze and suddenly it was hailing.

It was only the second time since records have been kept that hail has fallen on Samoa, the first was in 2011.

The storm lasted 10 to 15 minutes.

“The ice was very small and there were no reports of damage,” Luteru Tauvale, principal meteorologist for the Samoan Meteorology Service said.

At first, many people were suspicious of the news reports. They thought it was a hoax given Samoa’s tropical weather.

“Because it was so unexpected a lot of people thought it had been invented. We had to release satellite images of the conditions that led to the hail for people to believe it was real.”

Tauvale added that although the occurrence was rare, it has happened before in Samoa.

“This phenomenon is unusual for us because hail only occurs in cool countries like New Zealand but it has happened in Samoa before,” he said.

“Back in 2011, we had a similar occurrence at Tiavi.”

Samoans took to social media to share their photos of the hail, many voicing disbelief at the incident, some saying it was the first time that they had been convinced of the reality of climate change.

“Climate change is here!” wrote one Samoan on Facebook.

“More like we have just woken up to the fact it had been with us for a while but we refuse to accept or believe it.”

“Hopefully one day it will snow, Samoan kids have only dreamed of building a snowman,” another person commented. - PNC sources