Barometric Pressure Forecast for Murray, Utah
Barometric pressure forecast for Murray, Utah — in the central Salt Lake Valley, where lake-effect bands off the Great Salt Lake and fast Pacific troughs set the pace. See current barometric pressure and what it means for weather-sensitive people.
Download Pressure Pal to track barometric pressure and get migraine alerts for Murray and your area.
Pressure and weather in Murray
Murray occupies the centre of the Salt Lake Valley along the Jordan River, with the Wasatch Range to the east, the Oquirrh Mountains to the west and the Great Salt Lake about fifteen miles to the northwest. That last feature produces one of the more unusual snow mechanisms in the country. Because the lake is hypersaline it rarely freezes, so through late autumn and early spring cold air crossing the warm brine picks up moisture and organises into narrow lake-effect bands that drift southeast down the valley, sometimes parking over a few square miles and dropping heavy snow for hours while the rest of the valley stays clear. These bands develop behind cold fronts on a rising barometer, so the barometric pressure forecast will not warn you about them; what it does show well is the front that created the conditions. Pacific troughs crossing the Great Basin are the valley's main synoptic events, and they move quickly, typically producing a fall in current barometric pressure over half a day, strong pre-frontal south wind funnelled along the valley axis, and then a rapid recovery. Spring and autumn see the most of them. Summer is hot, dry and very stable, and midwinter can stagnate under high pressure for a week at a time. A barometric pressure forecast for Murray matters most from October through April.
What this means for you
Can barometric pressure cause headaches? Along this valley the pre-frontal south wind often arrives hours before the pressure minimum, so noting the timing of symptoms relative to the low point can be revealing. Track current barometric pressure in Pressure Pal as a migraine tracker app and see whether your weather migraine days sit before or after the trough passes.