The German Colonial Experience by Arthur J. Knoll

Author:Arthur J. Knoll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UPA
Published: 2010-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

e. Meteorology

252. Lightning without Thunder in Samoa

When I arrived in Samoa in 1901, it was noted that thunderstorms hardly ever occurred, a conclusion substantiated by my own observations. Electrical disturbances were generally in the form of sheet lightning without any or very weak thunder (distant rumblings). Typically one has pitch – black nights during the period of the new moon, thick cloud cover, and thereby also no stars. The air is heavy and humid (charged with electricity?), no land breezes, no cicadas, the tide ebbs and flows, with a light swell on the shore. As the Samoans say, it is the right time for aitu (God), pranksters, and moe totolo. Suddenly there is sheet lightning which for one second lights up nature; thereafter it becomes even darker than before (optical illusion). One awaits a hefty clap of thunder. But the expectation is disappointed; it doesn’t occur. Professor Angenheister7 explained that different layers of air masses make it impossible to hear thunder even though lightning may be in the immediate vicinity. When the thunder is absent, one feels very secure in spite of the nearby palm trees (which attract lightning). One understands then the Samoan belief that it’s the thunder and not the lightning that kills.

With the eruption of the second volcano in 1905 (the first one in 1902 extinguished itself so quickly that its effect was scarcely audible) things changed. Violent thunderstorms became frequent. I remember particularly the period January and February 1907 when numerous palm trees were hit by lightning, not only in Samoa but also in the surrounding islands. In a bright moonlit night I observed a very violent thunderstorm north of Samoa. In Samoa, at least on the north side of the island of Upolu, it was wind still by full moon so that the white cumulus clouds were reflected in the ocean. Nice peaceful water at low tide. On the northern horizon there was a cloudbank within which lightning flickered. I observed one flash that struck a sector laterally at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees and then made a right angle in its turn to earth. My lay assumption that the volcano was responsible for the thunderstorm became a certainty when the volcano ceased to erupt the thunderstorm abated (1911) and the previous normal condition resumed. Angenheister confirmed this [interpretation].

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