Barometric pressure in Pietermaritzburg
Air pressure rose very rapidly over the last 24 hours. It is 12 hPa higher than this time yesterday. That rise is ending: it turns and falls until Tuesday afternoon.
Sea level reading, as of 18:00 local time.
The past week and the days ahead
The shaded part shows the days already gone. The thicker line is the forecast.
The week ahead
Each day at a glance: how far pressure moves, and the low and high it reaches.
Rises steadily through the day.
23° / 12°low 1025 · high 1030 hPa
Falls quickly, most of it in the morning.
27° / 10°low 1021 · high 1030 hPa
Falls first, then climbs in the evening.
29° / 11°low 1017 · high 1025 hPa
Rises quickly through the day.
19° / 14°1.5 mmlow 1026 · high 1031 hPa
Falls steadily through the day.
25° / 14°low 1024 · high 1031 hPa
Falls steadily through the day.
28° / 11°low 1021 · high 1027 hPa
Falls very rapidly, most of it in the morning.
32° / 12°low 1012 · high 1022 hPa
Hour by hour
| Hour | Weather and temperature | Rain (mm) | Pressure (hPa) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 15° | 1025 | |
| 01:00 |  14° | 1026 | |
| 02:00 | 14° | 1026 | |
| 03:00 |  13° | 1026 | |
| 04:00 | 13° | 1027 | |
| 05:00 | 12° | 1027 | |
| 06:00 | 13° | 1028 | |
| 07:00 |  14° | 1030 | |
| 08:00 | 15° | 1030 | |
| 09:00 | 17° | 1030 | |
| 10:00 | 19° | 1030 | |
| 11:00 | 21° | 1029 | |
| 12:00 | 22° | 1028 | |
| 13:00 | 23° | 1027 | |
| 14:00 | 23° | 1026 | |
| 15:00 | 22° | 1026 | |
| 16:00 | 20° | 1026 | |
| 17:00 | 18° | 1027 | |
| 18:00 | 17° | 1028 | |
| 19:00 | 15° | 1029 | |
| 20:00 | 14° | 1030 | |
| 21:00 | 14° | 1030 | |
| 22:00 | 14° | 1030 | |
| 23:00 | 14° | 1030 |
Saturday has the week's biggest move: down 9 hPa.
Pressure bottoms out near 1017 hPa on Tuesday afternoon, and rises after that.
Pietermaritzburg sits 631 m above sea level, so a barometer in the city reads about 73 hPa lower than the sea-level figure. A home station set to the local reading should show about 954 hPa as of 18:00.
The hours already past are the model's record of each hour as it passed, anchored to real observations, though not a reading from an instrument in Pietermaritzburg.
Cities nearby
Open one to see its pressure, or search for your own city at the top of the page.
Out in the sun today? Check the UV level in Pietermaritzburg, on our sister site 
uvi.today.
Common questions
What is a normal barometric pressure?
Near 1013 hPa at sea level; the exact standard figure, 1013.25 hPa, is the same as 760 mmHg, 29.92 inHg or 101.3 kPa. Anything between roughly 1000 and 1025 hPa is ordinary. Which way it is going matters far more than the number itself.
Why does my own barometer show a different number?
Usually altitude, and sometimes the instrument itself. Weather services correct readings to what they would be at sea level, so that cities can be compared. The figure for Pietermaritzburg, which stands 631 m above sea level, is in the note above: about 73 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.
Is a millibar the same as a hectopascal?
Yes. One millibar and one hectopascal are exactly the same amount of pressure, so 1013 mbar and 1013 hPa mean the same thing. The name changed; the number did not.
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.
