Samoa Weather and Climate

Geographical location

According to COUNTRYAAH, the island state of Samoa occupies the western part of the Samoan Islands, the eastern part of the South Sea archipelago belongs to the United States of America as an outer area.

On an area of ​​2,842 square kilometers, Samoa is home to around 190,000 inhabitants and thus reaches a population density of around 68 people per square kilometer. Western Samoa was a German colony at the beginning of the 20th century, was occupied by New Zealand during World War I and has been independent since 1962.

The republic is located northeast of the Fiji Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The two largest islands in the state are Sava’i with 1708 square kilometers and Upolu with 1118 square kilometers. The capital Apia with around 37,000 inhabitants is also located on Upolu.

The mountainous topography and the densely vegetated slopes are characteristic of Samoa. The capital Apia is around 16,000 kilometers as the crow flies from Frankfurt, so the journey (with stopovers) takes over 24 hours.

• Abbreviation Finder: Check to see national geography, brief history, society description, domestic politics, economy overview, and a list of widely used acronyms about Samoa.

Climate in Samoa

The tropical-oceanic climate is typical for the location in the South Pacific. These year-round warm and quite humid weather conditions can also be found on Samoa. In the capital Apia, the daytime temperatures are always between 29 and 31 ° C, even at night it only cools down slightly to around 23 degrees. The rainfall extends over the whole year, thus also affecting the dry season on Samoa.

However, it gets particularly humid in Polynesia’s rainy season, which occurs between mid- October and mid- April with steady southeast trade winds. During this period alone, an average of over 2200 mm of precipitation falls in Samoa. The islands are not in the direct hurricane belt, but can be cut irregularly by severe tropical storms.

When to go to Samoa

The best time to travel to Samoa is from May to September. This part of the year is outside the rainy season and scores not only with less precipitation, but also with a significantly increased number of hours of sunshine per day. Another decisive factor is the lower humidity, which makes a trip to Samoa much more pleasant.

The months of July and August in particular are the driest. The temperatures are around 29 ° C, the risk of cyclones is almost zero at this travel time. Nothing stands in the way of a beach and bathing holiday with water temperatures of 27 to 28 ° C. The wettest travel month, however, is January, which, together with February and March, also has the highest (often humid) temperatures.

Temperatures, precipitation, sunshine in Apia (Samoa)

	Jan	Feb	March	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Daytime temperature	30 ° C	30 ° C	30 ° C	30 ° C	30 ° C	30 ° C	29 ° C	29 ° C	30 ° C	30 ° C	30 ° C	30 ° C
Night temperature	24 ° C	24 ° C	24 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C	23 ° C
Water temperature	28 ° C	28 ° C	28 ° C	28 ° C	28 ° C	28 ° C	27 ° C	27 ° C	27 ° C	28 ° C	28 ° C	28 ° C
Precipitation in mm	411	321	380	240	160	154	120	124	154	255	252	347
Rainy days	22	19	20	16	15	14	13	11	13	17	14	20
Hours of sunshine	6	6	6	7	7	8	8	8	8	7	7	6
Sunrise	31:10	31:25	31:30	30:35	30:40	30:50	30:50	30:45	30:20	31:00	30:50	30:55
Sunset	44:00	43:55	43:40	42:20	42:10	42:05	42:15	42:20	42:25	43:25	43:35	43:50

Temperatures

The average annual temperature in Apia is 26.5 ° C. For comparison: Munich reaches an average of 8.6 ° C, in Berlin it is 9.6 ° C. The warmest month is February (27 ° C), coldest month of July with averages of 25.9 ° C. The maximum water temperature in Apia is 28 ° C. Comfortable bathing is possible at these temperatures. All months have a water temperature of at least 21 ° C and are therefore suitable for a beach holiday.

Precipitation

Annual precipitation is 2918 mm on 194 days of precipitation. For comparison: In Munich, 967 mm, in Berlin 570 mm, precipitation is measured annually. The months of January, February, March, April, October, November and December are considered the rainy season, as more than 175 mm of precipitation can be expected per month. Overall, around 2206 mm of precipitation can be expected in the rainy season. You cannot expect snow in any month in Apia.

Sunshine

As our climate table shows, September is the sunniest month with an average of 8.1 hours of sunshine per day. On average over the year, the sun shines an average of 7 hours a day. For comparison: In Munich and Berlin, the sun shines an average of 4.7 hours per day throughout the year.

Highlights and attractions

The capital offers three cultural highlights in Samoa with the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum and the Immaculate Ceonception of Mary Cathedral as well as the Samoa Cultural Village. The dreamy lagoon To Sua Ocean Trench in Lalomanu and the Alofaaga Blowholes on Savai’s should not be missing on your trip either. In general, the focus in the South Pacific is on the natural highlights:

A special experience is the natural stone slide in the Papasee’a Pool, a swim in the pool below the Afu Aau waterfall on Savaii or swimming with sea turtles in the village of Satoalepai. It gets more adventurous when climbing over the suspension bridges between the treetops in the Falealupo rainforest.