21 Aug 2017

Pacific embracing more sophisticated weather analysis tools

2:39 pm on 21 August 2017

Samoa is adopting a new weather and climate prediction model, saying climate change is making historical data irrelevant.

The system develops to the northwest of Samoa

The system develops to the northwest of Samoa Photo: US National Weather Service

The Meteorological Service's principal scientific officer, Tile Tofaeono, said weather predictions have always been dependent on data about historical weather patterns.

Mr Tofaeono said the statistical method has worked well, but with climate change, nothing makes sense anymore.

Samoa is transitioning to a new model being introduced by the South Korea-based APEC Climate Centre, which relies on advanced mathematics gathered from state-of-the-art watchers around the world.