Texas · 1140 m elevation

Barometric Pressure in El Paso, TX

• 29.96Average pressure (inHg, sea level)
• 139.7Swing days a year · 33rd of 50
• 49.6Big-swing days a year (≥10 hPa)
• 72.7Significant 24h drop days a year

Overview

El Paso averages 29.96 inHg (1014.5 hPa) with 139.7 significant swing days a year — 20.9 in January, just 1.7 in August. Full seasonal breakdown.

El Paso's barometric pressure averages 29.96 inHg (1014.5 hPa) at sea-level equivalent, with a median of 29.94 inHg (1013.9 hPa). That mean is among the lowest of the 50 cities tracked here — a high-desert signature, not a sign of stormy weather. Most hours fall between 29.70 inHg (1005.7 hPa) and 30.29 inHg (1025.7 hPa), and the standard deviation of 0.18 inHg (6.03 hPa) ranks #36 of 50, below the national median of 6.87 hPa.

At 1,140 meters, El Paso's actual station pressure is far lower than anything you'll hear in a forecast: the ten-year mean surface pressure is 26.26 inHg (889.2 hPa), about 3.70 inHg (125.3 hPa) below the sea-level-adjusted numbers. A home barometer or weather station that hasn't had its altitude offset configured will read that much low and look permanently broken. Set the elevation correction once and the readings line up with published values.

Nationally, El Paso lands in the quiet-but-not-flat third: 139.7 significant swing days per year (|24h change| ≥ 6 hPa / 0.18 inHg) against a national median of 180.7, ranking #33 of 50. Big-swing days of 10 hPa (0.30 inHg) or more come 49.6 times a year, versus a median of 86.1 — rank #34. The clearest local comparison is Denver, another high-elevation interior city, which runs 281.6 swing days and 169.8 big-swing days: twice the swings and 3.4 times the big ones. Elevation alone doesn't drive volatility; position relative to the winter storm track does, and El Paso sits south of the busiest lanes. Closer peer Albuquerque, up the same Rio Grande corridor, still logs 1.3 times El Paso's swing days and 1.5 times its big-swing days.

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 as a symptom trigger, El Paso's profile is unusually seasonal. A typical 24-hour change is just 0.07 inHg (2.4 hPa), and even the 95th-percentile day moves only 0.29 inHg (9.9 hPa). Across a full year there are 139.7 days with a change of at least 0.18 inHg (6 hPa) and 72.7 days with a significant fall — both below the national median. The deep collapses that dominate other cities' records don't happen here: the worst 24-hour drop in ten years, 0.58 inHg (19.6 hPa), ranks #45 of 50 and is the smallest maximum drop of any Texas city in this dataset.

The exposure is concentrated. November through February carry 17.2, 17.9, 20.9, and 18.7 swing days respectively, and about 41 of the year's 72.7 drop days fall in those four months. June through September is close to a blank slate — 2.1 swing days in July, 1.7 in August, and effectively no drop days in midsummer. If you notice a seasonal rhythm to symptoms many pressure-sensitive people report, the local record gives it a clear shape: a turbulent late-fall-to-late-winter stretch and a very quiet monsoon season. Faster sub-daily moves follow the same pattern, with the 5th-percentile 6-hour change at −0.18 inHg (−6.1 hPa) and the sharpest 6-hour fall on record at −0.45 inHg (−15.2 hPa).

Against other cities, El Paso presents meaningfully fewer of the conditions many pressure-sensitive people report as triggers than the volatile North and interior West — half of Denver's swing days and under a third of its big-swing days — but roughly 1.8 times the swing days of Phoenix and about seven times those of Miami. Within Texas it sits mid-pack, quieter than Fort Worth and Dallas, more active than San Antonio and Houston. One characteristic worth keeping in mind when reading a barometer here: because the largest moves are rapid rises behind cold fronts rather than falls ahead of them, the direction of change matters as much as its size.

Seasonal patterns

The most useful fact about El Paso pressure is that it runs on two settings. January produces 20.9 significant swing days — roughly two days in three — while August produces 1.7 for the entire month. Drop days follow the same shape: 11.8 in January against 0.2 in August. Month-to-month variability tells the same story, with a January standard deviation of 0.19 inHg (6.49 hPa) falling to 0.10 inHg (3.35 hPa) in August.

Winter is when Pacific systems and lee cyclones track close enough to push cold fronts down the Rio Grande valley, and mean pressure peaks then: 30.12 inHg (1019.9 hPa) in January and 30.09 inHg (1019.1 hPa) in December. The spring shoulder stays active — March and April still average 15.4 and 14.9 swing days — before the monsoon season flattens the field. May and June share the year's lowest mean, 29.82 inHg (1009.9 hPa); the thermal low dominates, and while summer brings daily convection, the synoptic pressure pattern barely moves. June through September combined account for 13.4 swing days, fewer than January alone.

Extremes reflect that calendar. All five of the sharpest 24-hour drops on record landed in December, January, or February: −0.58 inHg (−19.6 hPa) ending December 14, 2020; −0.56 inHg (−19.1 hPa) on February 16, 2021; −0.55 inHg (−18.6 hPa) on December 31, 2016; −0.54 inHg (−18.4 hPa) on January 7, 2024; and −0.51 inHg (−17.4 hPa) on January 9, 2015. The record high of 30.79 inHg (1042.8 hPa) came on February 4, 2022, under an arctic surface high. The record low, 29.39 inHg (995.4 hPa), broke the winter pattern — it occurred April 28, 2017, with a spring lee cyclone deepening east of the Rockies. Note the asymmetry: El Paso's largest 24-hour rise, +0.84 inHg (28.4 hPa), dwarfs its largest fall. The violent move here is post-frontal high pressure surging into the basin behind a cold front, not the front's approach.

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

• Albuquerque, NM
• Tucson, AZ
• Phoenix, AZ
• Colorado Springs, CO
• San Antonio, TX
• Austin, TX

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