Barometric Pressure Forecast for New Lenox, Illinois
Barometric pressure forecast for New Lenox, Illinois — in Will County southwest of Chicago, where the lake breeze front often stalls and fires afternoon storms. See current barometric pressure and what it means for weather-sensitive people.
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Pressure and weather in New Lenox
New Lenox sits on the flat prairie of Will County about thirty-five miles southwest of the Chicago Loop, near Hickory Creek and far enough from Lake Michigan that the lake's influence arrives late in the day if at all. That distance turns out to matter a great deal in summer. On hot afternoons the lake breeze pushes inland from the shore as a sharp convergence boundary, and it commonly runs out of momentum somewhere across the southwest suburbs, where it stalls; thunderstorms then blossom along the stalled boundary, which is why this corridor can see a violent storm while both the lakefront and the far southwest stay dry. The boundary itself makes almost no mark on the barometer. The events that do show up are the organised systems that give this part of Illinois its winters: Colorado lows lifting northeast with slow, deep falls in current barometric pressure and the season's heaviest snow, Alberta clippers passing through quickly with shallow minima, and the frequent placement of the rain-snow-ice line right across northern Illinois. Spring adds squall lines and, occasionally, a derecho racing east across the prairie with a dramatic pressure surge and destructive wind. Summer between systems is level and humid. A barometric pressure forecast for New Lenox earns attention from December through March and again from May into July.
What this means for you
Can barometric pressure cause headaches? The Chicago suburbs offer a clear split between the lake breeze, which changes conditions sharply without touching the barometer, and passing lows, which change pressure without necessarily changing much else. Use the barometric pressure forecast in Pressure Pal as a headache tracking app and check pressure change today when a winter storm is expected.