Utah · 1302 m elevation

Barometric Pressure in Salt Lake City, UT

• 30.01Average pressure (inHg, sea level)
• 221.3Swing days a year · 14th of 50
• 117.8Big-swing days a year (≥10 hPa)
• 123.7Significant 24h drop days a year

Overview

Salt Lake City has the widest pressure spread of 50 US cities (std 0.26 inHg / 8.64 hPa), with 221.3 swing days a year concentrated in winter.

Across 2015-2024, sea-level pressure at Salt Lake City averaged 30.01 inHg (1016.2 hPa), with a median of 29.96 inHg (1014.7 hPa) and a typical range from 29.65 inHg (1004.1 hPa) at the 5th percentile to 30.49 inHg (1032.6 hPa) at the 95th. The standard deviation of 0.26 inHg (8.64 hPa) is the highest of the 50 cities in this comparison — ahead of Boston at 0.25 inHg (8.44 hPa) and Denver at 0.24 inHg (8.17 hPa), and well above the national median of 0.20 inHg (6.87 hPa).

That #1 ranking needs a qualifier. Salt Lake City's spread is mostly a seasonal signature rather than a daily one. It ranks #14 of 50 for significant swing days (221.3 per year, 1.22x the national median of 180.7) and #15 for big-swing days at 117.8 per year (1.37x the median of 86.1). Its sharpest single 24-hour fall, 0.83 inHg (28.1 hPa), ranks only #30 — modest next to Boston's 1.52 inHg (51.5 hPa). Day to day, the median absolute 24-hour change is just 0.11 inHg (3.7 hPa), and 95% of days stay within 0.41 inHg (13.8 hPa). Denver logs more swing days (281.6, or 1.27x Salt Lake City's) yet has a narrower overall distribution. The two cities are variable in different ways.

Elevation matters here for anyone reading a barometer at home. The station sits at 1302 m, where mean pressure is 25.72 inHg (871 hPa) — about 4.29 inHg (145.2 hPa) below the sea-level-adjusted figures quoted in forecasts. An uncorrected gauge in the valley will read near 25.7 inHg on an ordinary day and never approach 30. What matters for tracking purposes is the direction and size of the change, not the absolute number.

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.

Salt Lake City averages 221.3 days a year with a 24-hour pressure change of at least 0.18 inHg (6 hPa), and 117.8 days reaching 0.30 inHg (10 hPa) — conditions many pressure-sensitive people report as triggers. Of the annual total, 123.7 are drop days, where the change is a significant fall. That places the city 14th and 15th of 50 nationally, above the median but short of the Front Range and Great Lakes leaders.

The seasonal concentration is the practical point. December (25.7 swing days, 15.3 drop days), January (25.6 and 14.8), November (25.0 and 14.3) and April (24.5 and 14.4) account for most of the qualifying days. July, at 5.1 swing days and 2.5 drop days, runs below the monthly pace of Phoenix (75.8 swing days a year) or Sacramento (85.3). The cold half of the year here behaves like a different city than the warm half.

For comparison: Salt Lake City records 1.56 times the big-swing days of Albuquerque (117.8 versus 75.5), the other high-elevation interior city in this set; 6.7 times Phoenix's 17.7; and 36.8 times Miami's 3.2. Against Denver, the busiest city on this list at 281.6 swing days, Salt Lake City has about 79% as many. The falls also tend to be gentler than in the eastern storm-track cities — the deepest on record here ranks #30 of 50 — so the profile is one of frequent moderate cold-season movement rather than rare, violent crashes.

Seasonal patterns

The calendar splits sharply. Monthly mean pressure runs from 30.25 inHg (1024.4 hPa) in January down to 29.83 inHg (1010.1 hPa) in June — a seasonal spread of 0.42 inHg (14.3 hPa), and a large part of why the city's overall standard deviation leads the country. Variability tracks the same curve: monthly standard deviation peaks in February at 0.28 inHg (9.54 hPa), with December at 0.28 inHg (9.40 hPa) and January at 0.28 inHg (9.33 hPa), then collapses to 0.10 inHg (3.43 hPa) in July.

November through April carries nearly all the action. December leads with 25.7 significant swing days, followed by January at 25.6, November at 25.0, and April at 24.5. Pacific storm systems crossing the Great Basin alternate with strong cold surface highs — the same regime that produces the valley's deep winter inversions — and the two extremes sit far apart. July is a different climate entirely: 5.1 swing days, with August at 7.6. December has 5.0 times July's swing days and 6.1 times its drop days (15.3 versus 2.5). Summer's weak, thermally driven pressure field simply doesn't move much.

The records fall where you would expect. The highest reading in the ten-year record, 31.08 inHg (1052.4 hPa), came on January 28, 2017. The lowest, 29.15 inHg (987 hPa), came on April 11, 2022, at the end of the second-steepest 24-hour fall on record. The five sharpest drops were 0.83 inHg (28.1 hPa) ending February 2, 2020; 0.81 inHg (27.4 hPa) ending April 11, 2022; 0.74 inHg (25.1 hPa) ending February 21, 2023; 0.74 inHg (25.0 hPa) ending January 9, 2017; and 0.72 inHg (24.5 hPa) ending February 13, 2023 — four of the five in January or February. Rises here are sharper than falls: the largest 24-hour increase on record, 1.07 inHg (36.2 hPa), exceeds the largest decrease, reflecting how abruptly cold high pressure builds in behind a departing system.

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

• Las Vegas, NV
• Denver, CO
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Albuquerque, NM
• Phoenix, AZ
• Fresno, CA

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