Colorado · 1832 m elevation

Barometric Pressure in Colorado Springs, CO

• 29.97Average pressure (inHg, sea level)
• 279.6Swing days a year · 2nd of 50
• 171.6Big-swing days a year (≥10 hPa)
• 175.5Significant 24h drop days a year

Overview

Colorado Springs leads all 50 US cities in big-swing days: 171.6 per year with a 24h move of 0.30 inHg (10 hPa) or more. Elevation, seasons and records.

Colorado Springs averages 29.97 inHg (1015 hPa) at sea-level-adjusted pressure, with a median of 29.97 inHg (1014.8 hPa) and a standard deviation of 0.24 inHg (8.02 hPa) across 87,672 hours of data from 2015 through 2024. Ninety percent of hours fall between 29.58 inHg (1001.7 hPa) and 30.37 inHg (1028.6 hPa). Those levels look unremarkable. The rate of change does not.

The city crosses the big-swing threshold — a 24-hour move of at least 0.30 inHg (10 hPa) — on 171.6 days a year, which ranks #1 of the 50 cities in this dataset. That is roughly one day in every 2.1, and almost exactly double the national median of 86.1. Counting the lower bar, a significant swing of 0.18 inHg (6 hPa) or more, Colorado Springs logs 279.6 days a year, ranking #2 behind Denver's 281.6 and running 1.55 times the national median of 180.7. Its overall variability ranks #6. What sets this city apart is not the size of its worst storms — its largest 24-hour drop ranks a middling #19 — but how rarely the barometer sits still.

Elevation matters for what you actually see at home. At 1,832 meters, the mean station pressure here is 24.12 inHg (816.9 hPa), about 198 hPa below the sea-level-reduced figure. An uncorrected barometer on a Colorado Springs wall reads near 24 inHg, not 30, and that is normal, not a fault. Every comparative number on this page uses mean-sea-level reduction so the city can be measured against places like Miami and Boston; that same reduction is why a reading as high as 31.07 inHg (1052.1 hPa) is possible in the record book here.

Migraine & pressure-sensitivity outlook

• Low — under 6 hPa (0.18 inHg)
• Elevated — 6 to 10 hPa
• High — 10 hPa (0.30 inHg) or more
• Dashed outline = forecast (after today)

Association only. This calendar shows days when pressure changed — or is forecast to change — sharply over 24 hours, conditions associated with pressure sensitivity in some people. It is not a prediction of symptoms, not a diagnosis, and not medical advice. The 30 days of history are there so you can compare the days you actually felt something against what the barometer did. Talk to a clinician about headache or migraine management.

For people who track barometric pressure, Colorado Springs is the most active city in this set. It records 279.6 significant swing days and 175.5 drop days a year — falls of 0.18 inHg (6 hPa) or more over 24 hours, the direction most often cited by pressure-sensitive people. Of those, 171.6 days reach the 0.30 inHg (10 hPa) big-swing mark, more than any of the other 49 cities. The typical day still moves: the median absolute 24-hour change is 0.14 inHg (4.8 hPa), and one day in twenty exceeds 0.51 inHg (17.4 hPa). Rapid change is the baseline condition here, not the exception.

Comparative framing makes the scale clear. Colorado Springs sees about 54 times the big-swing days of Miami (3.2 per year) and 6.1 times the significant swing days of Los Angeles (45.6). Against Albuquerque — also a high-elevation Southwest city, and the exact national median at 180.7 swing days — Colorado Springs records 2.27 times as many big-swing days and a 95th-percentile 24-hour move 1.49 times as large. Elevation by itself does not explain the difference; position on the lee side of the Rockies does. Boston, ranked #3 nationally, is the coastal counterpart: larger individual events, with a record 24-hour drop of 1.52 inHg (51.5 hPa), but fewer of them.

The seasonal contrast is the practical takeaway. November through March each carry 26 to 29 swing days and 17 to 20 drop days per month — conditions many pressure-sensitive people report as triggers, occurring on most days of those months. July and August cut that roughly in half, with 13.5 and 14.6 swing days and just 6.2 drop days in July. If you keep a symptom log, the winter and early-spring stretch is where the density of qualifying days is highest, and midsummer is the reliable lull. Pressure change is only one of many factors people associate with symptoms; these figures describe the local climate, not an individual's response to it.

Seasonal patterns

The turbulent season runs from late autumn through early spring. December is the busiest month with 28.6 significant swing days, followed by March at 28.3, November at 28.0, and January at 27.3. Hour-to-hour variability peaks slightly earlier in the calendar: February carries the highest monthly standard deviation at 0.29 inHg (9.84 hPa), with January at 0.28 inHg (9.42 hPa) and December at 0.28 inHg (9.38 hPa). This is lee-cyclone country — storm systems crossing the Rockies deepen on the eastern slope, and the Front Range sits directly in the path of the resulting pressure gradients.

July is the clear break. Swing days fall to 13.5, the standard deviation drops to 0.13 inHg (4.25 hPa) — less than half the February figure — and drop days fall to 6.2, against 19.5 in December. August is nearly as quiet at 14.6 swing days. The monsoon regime replaces organized frontal passage with afternoon convection, and the broad synoptic gradient largely collapses. Monthly mean pressure follows a shallow seasonal cycle, from 30.06 inHg (1018 hPa) in January down to 29.89 inHg (1012.1 hPa) in June. Even so, July alone produces more significant swing days than Miami averages across a typical six months.

The extremes cluster in the cold season. The record high of 31.07 inHg (1052.1 hPa) was set at 11:00 on January 7, 2015 — and the largest 24-hour drop on record, 1.11 inHg (37.7 hPa), ended at 11:00 on January 8, 2015, exactly 24 hours later. One system, ridge to trough. The record low of 28.91 inHg (978.9 hPa) came at 08:00 on March 13, 2019, arriving with a 0.94 inHg (32 hPa) fall over the preceding 24 hours. The other steepest drops: 1.03 inHg (34.8 hPa) ending January 7, 2022; 0.91 inHg (30.9 hPa) ending February 14, 2023; and 0.89 inHg (30.2 hPa) ending November 13, 2019. All five fall between November and March. The sharpest six-hour fall on record is 0.58 inHg (19.6 hPa), and the largest 24-hour rise is 1.31 inHg (44.4 hPa).

Month by month

Swing days: 24-hour change of at least 6 hPa (0.18 inHg). Drop days: 24-hour fall of at least 6 hPa. Averages per year, 2015–2024.

Records and extremes

Sharpest 24-hour drops, 2015–2024

Nearby cities

• Denver, CO
• Albuquerque, NM
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Wichita, KS
• Oklahoma City, OK
• El Paso, TX

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