Re: [Paddlewise] Barometers - essential tool?

Hello Jed, kees and Paddlewise,


Jed you are partially correct in your first thought that what you see, hear,
feel and smell will tell you a lot about what's going to happen with the
weather.  However, meteorological forecasts can only give a general tendency
for fairly large areas. Barometric pressure will fall with the approach and
arrival of a low-pressure system which, as you know, usually means a
deterioration in the weather.


This, as you say, in our day and age is perfectly well forewarned by the
weather forecasting services, so if you are not on an extended trip without
communications, your barometer will be of little use in these circumstances.
If you don't have the weather forecast, though, your barometer indication will
warn you of an oncoming front and the faster it falls, the more violent the
change in weather. You will, of course, see the clouds coming too!


Another frequent situation is this: low barometric pressure over a very large
area, combined with fairly warm conditions and high humidity can easily
provoke thunderstorms. The onset of the storm will be felt often by gusts of
wind and starting even before the gusts, a rapid drop in pressure. Your
barometer will be telling you to get out of Dodge ASAP. The weather forecast
will not be able to give you such precise warning of the storm.


In the mountains here in Switzerland, when hiking, we always take an
altimeter, which is in fact the same device as a barometer and can be used the
same way; sitting on a high mountain pass at 3'800m above sea-level, eating a
well-earned lunch, you look at the altimeter and see that you are now at
3'850m, without moving, means the pressure is dropping and it's time to leave.
It has saved us many times from at best a cold shower and at worst, lightning
strikes.


To be useful, your barometer must travel with you. You must check it regularly
against the conditions you see. You will quickly get a "feel" for what it's
telling you.


Hope this helps,


Kevin D





  ----- Original Message ----- 


  From: Jed Luby 


  .... keep getting this nagging sense that it can only confirm the info the
I'm getting from other weather signs.


  ....to tell me what a barometer can do for me that a study of the


  sky cannot. Put another way, I'm finding that the barometer I just


  bought is able to tell me no more than I can see for myself by looking


  at the clouds and feeling the wind. Barometers measure what has happened


  not what will happen so by themselves they do not forecast. Pressure by


  itself doesn't tell the whole story; location of air masses along with


  their temp, moisture level and pressure seemed to be required as well.








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