Barometric pressure in Arlington today
Falling
Beyond the daily ups and downs, pressure rose until yesterday morning, then turned and fell sharply. That leaves it 6 hPa lower than yesterday at this time. Next, it keeps falling sharply until this afternoon, then rises sharply until Sunday morning. After that it falls quickly until Tuesday afternoon, then moves between 1020 and 1023 hPa until Wednesday night, then falls steadily for the rest of the week.
Current sea-level reading for Arlington, as of 06:00 local time.
Pressure graph: the past week and the week ahead
The shaded part shows the days already gone. The thicker line is the forecast.
Arlington sits 81 m above sea level, so a barometer in the city reads about 9 hPa lower than the sea-level figure. A home station set to the local reading should show about 1005 hPa as of 06:00.
The week ahead: the pressure forecast day by day
Each day at a glance: which way pressure moves, and how far.
28° / 16°9.9 mmSwings between 1005 and 1019 hPa and ends much lower.Show hourly graph
16° / 7°0.9 mmClimbs sharply all day, to 1031.Show hourly graph
8°
14° / 4°Moves between 1031 and 1037 hPa as the overall level rises quickly, ending clearly higher.Show hourly graph14° / 6°Holds near 1033 through the night, then drops sharply to 1023 by the end of the day.Show hourly graph20° / 9°Falls steadily to 1020 by the afternoon, then edges back up a little.Show hourly graph18° / 13°1.2 mmEases down to 1021 by the afternoon.Show hourly graph15° / 11°1.2 mmHolds near 1021 until morning, then falls steadily to 1018 by the end of the day.Show hourly graphBiggest change of the week: Saturday, up 18 hPa.
Hour by hour
| Hour | Weather and temperature | Rain (mm) | Pressure (hPa) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 16° | 0.9 | 1019 |
| 01:00 | 16° | 0.9 | 1018 |
| 02:00 | 16° | 0.9 | 1017 |
| 03:00 | 16° | 1017 | |
| 04:00 | 16° | 1016 | |
| 05:00 | 16° | 1015 | |
| 06:00 | 17° | 1014 | |
| 07:00 | 17° | 1014 | |
| 08:00 | 17° | 1013 | |
| 09:00 |  19° | 1013 | |
| 10:00 |  21° | 1012 | |
| 11:00 | 23° | 1011 | |
| 12:00 | 24° | 1010 | |
| 13:00 | 25° | 1009 | |
| 14:00 | 26° | 1007 | |
| 15:00 | 27° | 1006 | |
| 16:00 | 28° | 1006 | |
| 17:00 | 27° | 1005 | |
| 18:00 | 25° | 2.3 | 1006 |
| 19:00 | 21° | 2.3 | 1008 |
| 20:00 | 18° | 2.3 | 1009 |
| 21:00 | 17° | 0.1 | 1010 |
| 22:00 | 17° | 0.1 | 1011 |
| 23:00 | 16° | 0.1 | 1012 |
How much the pressure changes in Arlington
In Arlington the pressure changes most in January. In a typical October it changes by about 4 hPa from one day to the next, and on about 2 days it rises or falls by more than 10 hPa.
When the pressure changes most
| Month | More than 5 hPa | More than 10 hPa |
|---|---|---|
| January | 18 | 7 |
| February | 16 | 7 |
| March | 16 | 6 |
| April | 13 | 3 |
| May | 8 | 1 |
| June | 6 | 0 |
| July | 3 | 0 |
| August | 4 | 0 |
| September | 7 | 1 |
| October | 11 | 2 |
| November | 14 | 4 |
| December | 16 | 7 |
A typical day’s change through the year
Each date of the year has its own bar. The taller the bar, the bigger a typical day’s change around that date.
Does the pressure change a lot in Arlington?
Arlington has more days with a change of more than 10 hPa than 93 out of every 100 large cities.
Each dot stands for up to 20 cities with 100,000 people or more. The first column is much taller than shown. Cities higher than 1,000 m are left out, and so are smaller cities within 15 km of a bigger one, unless they are capitals, so that suburbs are not counted twice.
These figures come from ERA5, in which the European weather centre ECMWF rebuilds past weather from a weather model and observations, for an area about 28 km across around Arlington, 1991 to 2020. Each change is the difference between one day’s average pressure and the next day’s.
Cities nearby
Open one to see its pressure, or search for your own city at the top of the page.
More about air pressure
What we have written about how pressure behaves and how it is measured.
Where air pressure changes the most, city by city
Thirty years of data, ranked by city: where air pressure swings most from day to day and where it hardly moves. London, New York, Tokyo and 128 more.
How much does air pressure change in a day?
A normal day moves the barometer about 4 hPa in London and half of one in Singapore. What counts as a big drop, and how often one comes.
Why barometric pressure deserved its own site
Air pressure is the weather number people ask about most and understand least: is it high, is it rising or falling, does it matter today.
Is this weather normal for the season? See how these days compare with Arlington weather since 1940, on our sister site 
weatherjourney.com.
Questions about the pressure in Arlington
What is the barometer reading in Arlington right now?
Sea-level pressure in Arlington is 1014 hPa as of 06:00 local time, down 3 hPa over the last three hours. A barometer in the city itself, 81 m up, shows about 1005 hPa.
Is the barometer rising or falling in Arlington today?
Beyond the daily ups and downs, pressure rose until yesterday morning, then turned and fell sharply. That leaves it 6 hPa lower than yesterday at this time. Over the last three hours it has gone down 3 hPa.
Has the pressure in Arlington changed since yesterday?
Yes. At this time yesterday it read 1020 hPa; it is 6 hPa lower now.
What has the pressure in Arlington been over the last few days?
Over the past 7 days it ran between 1007 hPa (on Sunday night) and 1030 hPa (on Saturday morning). The biggest change in any 24 hours was a fall of 20 hPa, in the 24 hours ending on Sunday evening.
Is 1014 hPa high or low pressure?
Atmospheric pressure between about 1000 and 1025 hPa is ordinary at sea level. 1014 hPa sits in the middle of that range. In Arlington most days average between 1006 and 1029 hPa. The last 24 hours average about 1020 hPa, within that usual range.
What is normal barometric pressure for Arlington?
From 1991 to 2020 the sea-level average for Arlington was 1017 hPa, and most days average between 1006 and 1029 hPa. It is usually highest from November to January and lowest from April to July.
When does barometric pressure change the most in Arlington?
The pressure in Arlington changes most in January. Between 1991 and 2020, Arlington had about 38 days a year with a big change, of more than 10 hPa from one day to the next.
Why does my own barometer show a different number?
Usually altitude, and sometimes the instrument itself. To compare cities, pressure is corrected to sea level. The figure for Arlington, which stands 81 m above sea level, is in the note above: about 9 hPa below the sea-level reading. If your barometer is already set to sea level and still reads slightly differently, that is the setting on the instrument rather than the weather.
Does falling pressure mean rain?
Not by itself. Away from the tropics, falling pressure usually means a low is approaching, and lows carry the fronts that bring cloud and rain, so the two often arrive together. But a shallow fall can pass with nothing more than cloud, and rain falls under steady pressure too. The graph tells you a system is on the way, not how wet it will be. The week ahead, just above, shows the rain forecast beside the pressure.
