Hail fell in Samoa earlier this week. An unusual occurrence in Samoa’s tropical climate had locals excitedly posting videos on line – dancing outdoors as hailstones fell around them.
A video of a family in Lotofaga, Upolu showed youngsters calling out to other family members:
Timu aisa, ua timu aisa Samoa!
its raining hailstones! Hailstones falling in Samoa!
The viral video shows small icy hailstones caught in the palms of their hands.
Similar incidents occurred in 2011 in Samoa where hail fell in Tiavi and again in 2016 this time in Savaii – Satupaitea and Vaitoomul
Assistant Chief Meteorologist Dr. Luteru Tauvale attributes the event to climate change affecting the world.
“The hail was caused by columnar clouds, which are a type of cumulonimbus cloud that can produce hailstones,” said Dr Luteru.
Hailstones form when updrafts in thunderstorm clouds carry water droplets up to freezing levels where they freeze into small balls of ice.
As the hailstones move upward and downward through the storm cloud, they may pass through additional layers of supercooled water droplets, causing them to grow in size.
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