Barometric pressure in Beijing today
Rising
Apart from the daily swing, pressure has risen quickly over the past day. That leaves it 8 hPa higher than yesterday at this time. Next, it holds near this level until tonight, then falls sharply until tomorrow afternoon. After that it rises sharply until Sunday evening, then from Monday morning falls quickly until Monday afternoon, then goes up and down between 1016 and 1028 hPa for the rest of the week.
Current sea-level reading for Beijing, as of 19:00 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.
Beijing sits 47 m above sea level, so a barometer in the city reads about 5 hPa lower than the sea-level figure. A home station set to the local reading should show about 1018 hPa as of 19:00.
The week ahead: the pressure forecast day by day
Each day at a glance: which way pressure moves, and how far.
19° / 14°Holds near 1019 through the night, then rises quickly to 1024 by morning.Show hourly graph
18° / 12°58.2 mmMoves between 1009 and 1024 hPa as the overall level drops sharply, ending much lower.Show hourly graph
17° / 9°Moves between 1012 and 1022 hPa as the overall level rises quickly, ending much higher.Show hourly graph
10°
18° / 7°Holds near 1021 until morning, then falls quickly to 1016 by the afternoon, then edges back up a little.Show hourly graph
15° / 7°0.9 mmMoves between 1018 and 1027 hPa as the overall level rises quickly, ending much higher.Show hourly graph
13° / 4°Holds near 1027 until morning, then falls quickly to 1023 by the afternoon, then edges back up a little.Show hourly graph13° / 4°Holds near 1024 until morning, then falls quickly to 1019 by the afternoon, and holds there.Show hourly graphThe day that changes most: Saturday, down 12 hPa.
Hour by hour
| Hour | Weather and temperature | Rain (mm) | Pressure (hPa) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 15° | 1019 | |
| 01:00 | 14° | 1019 | |
| 02:00 | 14° | 1019 | |
| 03:00 | 14° | 1019 | |
| 04:00 | 14° | 1020 | |
| 05:00 | 14° | 1020 | |
| 06:00 | 14° | 1021 | |
| 07:00 | 14° | 1022 | |
| 08:00 | 15° | 1023 | |
| 09:00 | 16° | 1023 | |
| 10:00 | 17° | 1024 | |
| 11:00 | 17° | 1024 | |
| 12:00 | 18° | 1024 | |
| 13:00 | 18° | 1023 | |
| 14:00 | 19° | 1023 | |
| 15:00 | 18° | 1023 | |
| 16:00 | 18° | 1022 | |
| 17:00 | 18° | 1023 | |
| 18:00 | 17° | 1023 | |
| 19:00 | 16° | 1023 | |
| 20:00 | 15° | 1024 | |
| 21:00 | 15° | 1024 | |
| 22:00 | 16° | 1024 | |
| 23:00 | 16° | 1024 |
How much the pressure changes in Beijing
In Beijing the pressure changes most from February to April. In a typical October it changes by about 3 hPa from one day to the next, and on about one day it rises or falls by more than 10 hPa.
When the pressure changes most
| Month | More than 5 hPa | More than 10 hPa |
|---|---|---|
| January | 8 | 1 |
| February | 10 | 1 |
| March | 11 | 2 |
| April | 10 | 1 |
| May | 6 | 1 |
| June | 2 | 0 |
| July | 2 | 0 |
| August | 2 | 0 |
| September | 3 | 0 |
| October | 6 | 1 |
| November | 9 | 1 |
| December | 9 | 1 |
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 Beijing?
Beijing has more days with a change of more than 10 hPa than 71 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 Beijing, 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.
Wondering how clean the air is? See today's air quality in Beijing, on our sister site 
airindex.today.
Questions about the pressure in Beijing
What is the barometer reading in Beijing right now?
Sea-level pressure in Beijing is 1023 hPa as of 19:00 local time, up 1 hPa over the last three hours. A barometer in the city itself, 47 m up, shows about 1018 hPa.
Is the barometer rising or falling in Beijing today?
Apart from the daily swing, pressure has risen quickly over the past day. That leaves it 8 hPa higher than yesterday at this time. Over the last three hours it has gone up 1 hPa.
Has the pressure in Beijing changed since yesterday?
Yes. At this time yesterday it read 1015 hPa; it is 8 hPa higher now.
What has the pressure in Beijing been over the last few days?
Over the past 7 days it ran between 1012 hPa (on Wednesday afternoon) and 1024 hPa (on Tuesday morning). The biggest change in any 24 hours was a fall of 10 hPa, in the 24 hours ending on Wednesday evening.
Is 1023 hPa high or low pressure?
Atmospheric pressure between about 1000 and 1025 hPa is ordinary at sea level. 1023 hPa is on the high side of ordinary. In Beijing most days average between 1001 and 1033 hPa. The last 24 hours average about 1021 hPa, within that usual range.
What is normal barometric pressure for Beijing?
From 1991 to 2020 the sea-level average for Beijing was 1016 hPa, and most days average between 1001 and 1033 hPa. It is usually highest in December and January and lowest in July.
When does barometric pressure change the most in Beijing?
The pressure in Beijing changes most from February to April. Between 1991 and 2020, Beijing had about 10 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 Beijing, which stands 47 m above sea level, is in the note above: about 5 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.
