Barometric Pressure Forecast for Port Angeles, Washington
Barometric pressure forecast for Port Angeles, Washington — on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Clallam County, beneath the northern Olympic Mountains. See current barometric pressure and what it means for weather-sensitive people.
Download Pressure Pal to track barometric pressure and get migraine alerts for Port Angeles and your area.
Pressure and weather in Port Angeles
Port Angeles sits at sea level on the strait, sheltered by the curving sand spit of Ediz Hook, with the Olympic Mountains rising to nearly 8,000 feet immediately behind the town. Those mountains create one of the sharpest rainfall gradients in North America: the Hoh rainforest on the windward side takes well over three metres a year, while Port Angeles, in the lee, receives less than a fifth of that, a dry hole in the middle of a temperate rainforest. The rain shadow does not shelter the barometer. North Pacific lows tracking toward the coast from October through March are the dominant systems, and the deep ones produce falls of thirty hPa or more in under a day, with the strait channelling their wind into a strong easterly or westerly depending on where the centre passes. Atmospheric rivers aimed at the Olympics deliver enormous rainfall to the mountains and swell the rivers reaching the strait without necessarily raining hard on the town itself. Summer brings the North Pacific High and a long stretch of dry stable weather in which the trace goes nearly flat for weeks. Fog and low cloud along the strait are common in any season and are produced by marine air rather than by any passing system.
What this means for you
The wet season and the active barometer arrive together here, and the rain shadow disguises how strong a passing system really is. A barometric pressure forecast describes the storm better than the view out the window does.