Barometric Pressure Forecast for South Kingstown, Rhode Island
Barometric pressure forecast for South Kingstown, Rhode Island — on the south-facing coast behind the Point Judith salt ponds. See current barometric pressure and what it means for weather-sensitive people.
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Pressure and weather in South Kingstown
South Kingstown occupies the southern shore of Rhode Island, a low glacial outwash plain fronted by barrier beaches and the string of coastal salt ponds behind them, facing Block Island Sound with open ocean beyond. The exposure is the whole story. Nor'easters deepening off the Mid-Atlantic coast track northeast past this shoreline, and because the coast faces south rather than east, the strongest onshore fetch arrives while the storm is still to the southwest and the pressure is still falling. Drops of thirty hPa in a day are routine in a rapidly developing coastal low, and the deepest of them push surge into the ponds and over the barrier beaches. The 1938 hurricane came ashore near here and permanently rearranged this coastline, a reminder that September and October carry tropical risk stacked on top of the winter pattern. The ocean also flattens the extremes at either end: summer afternoons are cooled by a dependable sea breeze and the growing season runs long, while the same cold water keeps spring raw into May and generates fog whenever mild air moves across it.
What this means for you
The worst conditions here arrive on the falling limb, hours before the lowest reading, because the fetch is longest while the storm is still offshore. Reading the slope on a barometric pressure forecast matters more on this coast than reading the minimum.