Weather Experts Needed is a 1050mb High normal?

I have only seen these highs with extreme bad weather; hurricane Catrina, tornadoes in Joplin etc...
Is there a resident meteorologist hear to tell me it's normal?

I watch the weather quite a bit and they don't show up any other time.

Please help explain.

A strong high is an indicator of fair weather. It's the lows you have to pay attention to.
1050 is about as high as you'll see it get. I don't see 1050 on that chart.

We see regular(ish) highs of low 140s here in the UK,so 150mb would be slightly above normal.I think the record is somewhere up in the high 170s,so not a lot to worry about just yet from barometric pressure alone.

Heres a question then. If the earths weather system has a mixture of high and low pressure, is there any data for an average global pressure? Do the highs and lows balance out?

reply to post by December21st2012

"Standard" surface pressure is 1013 mb.

reply to post by December21st2012

1013.2 mb is considered to be the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level.980 to 150 is also considered to be the normal range of pressures,so yes I'd say they would balance out.

1050 millibars is equal to 31.006 inches of Mercury. That reading is right at the top of the chart and usually means there could be a steep windy pressure gradient if there is a low pressure area nearby. Record high surface pressures also sometimes occur with record low temperatures in winter.

1003mb here in the south of England at the moment and currently 8 deg,so well above average for the time of year.

The highest recorded pressure was about 1083 in Agata Siberia
en.m.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Phage


Was a 1049 & 1048 western Colorado, thanks for the quick response and information.
Helping me understand, that's why I came to ATS.

High pressure,usually good,low pressure,usually bad.

A low pressure system, or "low," is an area where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of the area surrounding it. Lows are usually associated with high winds, warm air, and atmospheric lifting. Because of this, lows normally produce clouds, precipitation, and other bad weather such as tropical storms and cyclones.

High pressure areas are normally caused by a phenomenon called subsidence, meaning that as the air in the high cools it becomes denser and moves toward the ground. Pressure increases here because more air fills the space left from the low. Subsidence also evaporates most of the atmosphere's water vapor so high pressure systems are usually associated with clear skies and calm weather. Unlike areas of low pressure, the absence of clouds means that areas prone to high pressure experience extremes in diurnal and seasonal temperatures since there are no clouds to block incoming solar radiation or trap outgoing longwave radiation at night. Thus such areas have higher high temperatures and lower lows.

From all places,
geography.about.com...

reply to post by Imagewerx


So if they balance out, where there is a big high, there may also be a big low somewhere else then?

reply to post by December21st2012

Not required but there can be.
And the closer they are together, the stronger the wind will be in between them.

reply to post by Phage


So what happens when 2 low pressure systems collide?

reply to post by December21st2012

That would be pretty unusual occurrence but if it happened you'd probably get a big low pressure system. Larger but not necessarily more intense.

As Phage said,a big pressure gradient where the isobars are close together brings high winds.