Barometric Pressure Forecast for Whitby, United Kingdom
Barometric pressure forecast for Whitby, North Yorkshire — where the Esk cuts through the moors to the North Sea. See current barometric pressure and what it means for weather-sensitive people.
Download Pressure Pal to track barometric pressure and get migraine alerts for Whitby and your area.
Pressure and weather in Whitby
Whitby sits in the steep-sided mouth of the River Esk where it breaks through the North York Moors to reach the North Sea, with the abbey ruin on the East Cliff and the moorland rising behind the town on three sides. Facing the North Sea rather than the Atlantic changes the weather considerably from the west coast. Depressions arrive here having already crossed the country, often weakened, but Whitby picks up a second set of events the western side never sees: easterly and northeasterly flows that bring the haar, the cold sea fret that rolls in off the water and can drop the temperature ten degrees in twenty minutes while the barometer barely moves. Winter northerlies coming down from the Arctic bring the town's snow, funnelled up the Esk valley. The strongest pressure falls still come with autumn and winter Atlantic lows tracking across Scotland to the north.
What this means for you
A North Sea coast gives you two kinds of bad day — the deep autumn depression and the raw easterly haar — and only one of them shows up in the barometer. Logging both in the migraine tracker app is the quickest way to tell which one is yours.