Why can a barometer help predict the weather?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Falling pressure means a storm is approaching
It detects wind speed, which increases before storms — Wrong. Wind speed is measured by an anemometer, not a barometer. While wind often picks up before a storm, a barometer's job is to measure pressure, and that pressure change is the direct clue to coming weather.
Falling pressure means a storm is approaching ✓ — Correct! A barometer tracks atmospheric pressure, and falling pressure usually means a low-pressure system is moving in. In a low, air rises and cools, forming clouds and rain, so a dropping barometer warns of unsettled or stormy weather ahead.
It measures temperature changes that signal coming storms — Wrong. A barometer measures air pressure, not temperature; a thermometer tracks temperature. Temperature shifts alone don't reliably forecast storms the way pressure changes do.
More Weather & Climate questions
- Why does a slight shift toward larger hail raise damage so much?
- Why do hail researchers simulate the paths individual hailstones take through a storm instead of just counting how many thunderstorms occur?
- Why does hail reach the ground smaller and less often in the tropics than in mid-latitudes?
- Why can one hailstone have both clear and cloudy ice layers instead of growing in one simple up-and-down path?
- Why is the coldest storm top not the best place for hail to grow?
- Why do supercells make 5-cm hail when ordinary storms usually cannot?