1 August 2025, Apia, Samoa – The Samoa Meteorological Services is laying the foundation for a transformative upgrade to its infrastructure, with the planned installation of a state-of-the-art weather radar currently in the works.
This significant development will enhance the Samoa Met Service’s capacity and ability to access and interpret more accurate and timely weather and climate information, and ultimately bolstering early warning systems, strengthen disaster preparedness, and support more informed decision-making across key sectors.
The weather radar, funded under the Weather Ready Pacific (WRP) Programme with the technical support and advice of the Meteorological Services New Zealand, who are currently in Samoa this week on a scoping mission to identify possible sites for the weather radar to be installed.
According to Afaese Dr. Luteru Tauvale, Director of the Samoa Meteorological Services, the weather radar will provide more detailed information, and more accurate and reliable forecasts can then be generated from this information.
“The satellites from which we are getting are information can really only see clouds, but not how much moisture is in the clouds which can then allow us to forecast the amount of rainfall to expect. Also, when it comes to thunderstorms, the satellites can only pick up the presence of certain clouds that cause thunderstorms, but not whether it actually will result in a thunderstorm,” Afaese said.
“The weather radar can tell you the exact amount of rainfall can be expected based on the moisture in the clouds, and also whether or not thunderstorms will be expected based on existing cloud coverage. This will result in more accurate forecasts not only for the general public, but also for other sectors such as the aviation sector,” he added.
Afaese also added that the installation of the weather radar will ultimately result in better resilience of communities against extreme weather events, as it will provide the Samoa Met Service the capacity to issue more impact-based forecasts so that communities will know what impacts can be expected on their properties and livelihoods. |
An expert from Met Services NZ, Mr. Collin Quarrie, is in Apia this week to undertake a scoping mission of possible sites for the Radar location.
Ideally, the radar will need to be installed at the highest point of the island, but Mr. Quarrie and Afaese Dr. Luteru identified challenges that will likely be faced by the team in finding such a location, including accessibility and condition of roads going to the sites, access to electricity and communications, and land ownership.
This week’s programme will aim to address these challenges and ultimately pinpoint the most advantageous location for the radar, that will be able to cover all of Samoa’s four inhabited islands of Apolima, Manono, Savaii and Upolu.
The installation of Samoa’s weather radar was approved as one of the WRP Programme’s major activities during its recent Steering Committee Meeting in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
According to WRP Programme Manager, Mr. ‘Ofa Faanunu, the installation of a weather radar for Samoa aligns with the WRP’s overall objective of reducing the human and economic impact of severe weather events in Pacific island communities by strengthening the capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to improve forecasting and warning systems, enhancing communication and service delivery, and building capacity for effective disaster response.
“The Weather Ready Pacific is a Pacific-led Program established by the Pacific Leaders to transform what has been lacking in the Pacific islands in terms of the Pacific response to extreme events,” Mr. Faanunu said,
“This planned Radar work for Samoa is one node of a wider network planned for the Pacific Region. We anticipate that the data from the Radar would help Samoa’s communities pinpoint to the hour accuracy in terms of rainfall amounts and location.”
Mr. Faanunu added that the accurate detection of hazards like tropical cyclones and thunderstorms will mean that governments will be able to provide better warnings for earlier response.
“The Radar that is being planned for Samoa is a C-band Radar. This means that weather systems can be detected out to a range of 300 kilometres . The Radar can also be used to monitor shipping within the Samoa Exclusive Economic Zone. This equipment will be a game changer for Samoa," Faanunu concluded.
The Samoa Weather Radar will be the third weather radar funded by the WRP Programme, with the first one installed in Nuku’alofa, Tonga and officially launched in 2023, and the second in Honiara, Solomon Islands, for which the groundbreaking and construction will begin shortly.
For more information, please contact Mr. ‘Ofa Faanunu, at [email protected]