Oklahoma · 371 m elevation

Barometric Pressure in Oklahoma City, OK

• 30.01Average pressure (inHg, sea level)
• 195.3Swing days a year · 21st of 50
• 107.9Big-swing days a year (≥10 hPa)
• 113.0Significant 24h drop days a year

Overview

Oklahoma City averages 195.3 significant pressure swing days a year, but January brings 25.7 and July just 1.7. Records, monthly data and 10-year trends.

Oklahoma City's sea-level pressure averaged 30.01 inHg (1016.3 hPa) across the decade from 2015 through 2024, with a median of 29.99 inHg (1015.5 hPa). The middle of the distribution is tight — nine hours in ten fall between 29.68 inHg (1005.2 hPa) and 30.41 inHg (1029.9 hPa), the 5th and 95th percentiles — and the typical 24-hour change is only 0.10 inHg (3.4 hPa). Most days here, the barometer barely moves.

That average conceals the real pattern. The city logs 195.3 significant swing days per year, meaning a 24-hour change of at least 0.18 inHg (6 hPa), ranking #21 of 50 cities against a national median of 180.7. On the harder measure — big-swing days of 0.30 inHg (10 hPa) or more — Oklahoma City ranks #19 with 107.9 days per year, about 1.25 times the national median of 86.1. When fronts cross the southern Plains they cross hard, and the swings are concentrated into a handful of months rather than spread evenly through the year.

At 371 meters (1,217 feet), the station sits high enough that raw readings differ noticeably from the sea-level values in forecasts. Mean station pressure is 28.73 inHg (973 hPa), about 1.28 inHg (43.3 hPa) below the mean sea-level figure. An uncalibrated home barometer in Oklahoma City will read near 28.7 inHg on an ordinary day, not 30.0 — that offset is elevation, not error.

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 pressure, Oklahoma City is a seasonal city rather than a consistently turbulent one. Across the year it records 113 drop days — significant 24-hour falls — plus 107.9 big-swing days of 0.30 inHg (10 hPa) or more. Both figures sit above the national median, and the 95th-percentile 24-hour move of 0.42 inHg (14.3 hPa) means the busiest days involve moves several times the ordinary 0.10 inHg (3.4 hPa). Short-fuse changes happen too: the sharpest six-hour fall on record was −0.43 inHg (−14.7 hPa).

The distribution matters more than the total. January alone accounts for 16.7 drop days, with February at 15.5, December at 14.9 and March at 14.1 — the December-through-March stretch delivers conditions many pressure-sensitive people report as triggers on roughly half its days. June through September is the reverse: 0.3 drop days in July, 1.4 in August, 2.8 in June and 3.3 in September. If summer heat is not itself a problem, that window is about as barometrically quiet as anywhere in the United States.

For comparison, Oklahoma City has about 1.26 times the swing days and 1.54 times the big-swing days of Dallas, 1.82 times the swing days and 2.80 times the big-swing days of Houston, and roughly ten times the swing days of Miami. Tulsa is a close in-state match at 191.0 swing days and 101.4 big-swing days. Denver, the most volatile city in the set at 281.6 swing days, runs about 1.4 times Oklahoma City's rate — and unlike Denver, Oklahoma City concentrates nearly all of that activity into half the calendar. These are statistical patterns in a decade of hourly observations, not forecasts of how any individual will feel.

Seasonal patterns

The seasonal split here is unusually sharp. January produces 25.7 significant swing days out of 31 — more than three-quarters of the month — with December at 24.3, March at 24.2 and February at 23.6. January's standard deviation of 0.28 inHg (9.48 hPa) is higher than the full-year variability of any city in this 50-city set, including Salt Lake City, which leads the annual rankings at 8.64 hPa. Cold fronts, Arctic high surges and lee cyclogenesis east of the Rockies keep the pressure field active from November through March. Mean pressure peaks in January at 30.16 inHg (1021.3 hPa).

Summer is the opposite. July sees just 1.7 swing days and 0.3 drop days per year — a significant 24-hour fall happens roughly once every three Julys. July's standard deviation of 0.09 inHg (3.14 hPa) is lower than Miami's year-round figure of 3.57 hPa, meaning Oklahoma City's calm season is quieter than the calmest city in the country is on average. The subtropical ridge flattens the gradient, and mean pressure bottoms out in June at 29.90 inHg (1012.6 hPa). August adds 3.5 swing days and June 6.9; the shoulder months of April (21.4) and October (19.8) mark the transitions.

The extremes cluster in the cold season without exception. The record high of 31.05 inHg (1051.4 hPa) came on January 7, 2015 with a powerful Arctic high, and the sharpest drops on record follow the same calendar: −0.84 inHg (−28.3 hPa) ending December 16, 2016; −0.83 inHg (−28.0 hPa) on February 26, 2023; −0.81 inHg (−27.5 hPa) on January 8, 2015, as the record high collapsed within a day; −0.72 inHg (−24.5 hPa) on February 14, 2023; and −0.72 inHg (−24.4 hPa) on March 13, 2019. The record low was 29.22 inHg (989.6 hPa) on December 23, 2015. Notably, the largest 24-hour rise, +1.03 inHg (+34.8 hPa), exceeds the largest drop — a Plains fingerprint, where building cold-air highs push the barometer up faster than storms pull it down.

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

• Tulsa, OK
• Wichita, KS
• Fort Worth, TX
• Dallas, TX
• Kansas City, MO
• Austin, TX

All 50 cities · Check any US location · Methodology