U.S. Cities Barometric Pressure Variation, Full List

53 thoughts on “U.S. Cities Barometric Pressure Variation, Full List”

1. Pingback: Avoiding Migraines Resulting from Changes in Barometric Pressure | www.securevideo.com Blog

2. How did you make these calculations? Is it possible to do this for world cities? Thanks.

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3. I found data from the US Weather Service for 966 weather stations, and made the calculations. The calculations are simple once you have the data, but I have not seen any data for cities outside the U.S.

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   1. JT — This is a long shot, but I am wondering if you could point me in the direction of where you got the data from the U.S. Weather service. I came across this post while researching barometric pressure as i think it might relate to my MS symptoms, and a lot of the data made sense. I live in Minneapolis, MN (a lot of variance, with 98 days per year). And my symptoms, though not severe, get particularly worse in the winter (four in a row, so there’s definitely a pattern). If you could either provide 1) A link to the raw data or 2) any specific numbers you were able to crunch regarding the specific month-by-month breakdown for Minneapolis (as you did for Austin, TX). In your 2013 post you noted that winter months US-wide tend to have a much greater variance, which makes sense to me, but as I try to investigate this I’m also trying to get as specific as possible. I suspect almost all of the variance days here are in the 6 months between Oct. 1 and April 1, but I’m hoping to confirm that. Thanks, regardless, for crunching all that data. It’s the best information I’ve found anywhere about health/barometric pressure links.

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      1. Hi, Michael.

         I remember that the data were really hard to find in the first place, and I ended up downloading a series of files from an FTP server, and then importing them into a SQL Server database I was running locally. When I wrote the blog article I had no idea it would engage so many people, so I have retained neither the link nor the downloaded database, sorry about that.

         I can confirm that for most cities, the clear majority of variance days are between 10/1 and 4/1, but I recall this being less so in the Northern U.S. In the Southern U.S., there was almost no variance in the summer, but I think in the Northern U.S. there was some.

         JT

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      2. Jonathan,
         The list of cities and their barometric variations is interesting, thanks for posting it. I think you must mean “U S Cities FRACTION of days…”, not PERCENTAGE of days ? For example, Miami FL shows 0.01. If that was the percentage of days, it would mean only one day in 10,000 (27 years) would show the change. If you mean 1 % ( 3 to 4 days per year), then the percent would be 1.0, not 0.01. Also, in your reply to Michael on Mar. 3, 2016, you say “…majority of variance days are between 10/1 and 4/1…” – what does 10/1 or 4/1 mean ? I don’t recognize what that notation means. Thanks.

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         1. Yes, thanks for pointing that out. Of course the list contains fractions/proportions, not percentages. I have changed the label above the list. 10/1 = October 1; 4/1 = April 1.

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            1. Sorry, I didn’t see right away 10/1 = October 1, etc. (duh). I clicked on your global link and amazed to see what a comprehensive job you have done with maps and all. That must have been a lot of work and appreciate your generosity to share it by posting it online ! I have converted the list of 966 US cities into an Excel spreadsheet and would be happy to send it to you by email if it is useful, but I expect you already have it in some similar form since you produced the list in the first place. I am interested for reasons of investigating atmospheric physics, not medical. I wonder if it might be convenient for you to tell me the numbers for the following world cities :
               Beijing
               London
               Geneva
               Lausanne (or any other cities in Switzerland)
               ?

         2. On my Global list (link towards the top of this page), at the very bottom, in the “Raw Data” section, is a link to the global spreadsheet, which includes 61 Swiss weather stations.

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      3. michael,
         i suffer w/ ms, as well, (including fibro and very severe sinus issues). i live in ohio and i am miserable. every yr. for the last 15 yrs i am stuck in my home (mostly in bed) from late september to early october until late april/early may. i have NO doubt that it is directly related to the change in weather and when the barometric pressure is low, it’s like someone pouring concrete on me, starting at my head and it slooooowwwly weighs me down. it’s awful. i am finally at my breaking point and cannot go through this another year, so i am researching where to move, in order to for me to gain back at least SOME quality of life….just wanted you to know that you are not alone. 🙂

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         1. Same here. I have lupus and am miserable from around September/October to April/May and live in NW Illinois about a midway point between Chicago and the WI border. We’ve lived here eight years. I was born and raised in Texas, where I was never this sick. Last year, I was hospitalized 15 times, five of those in the ICU. Not sure I can take another year.

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         2. Yes, same here. 18 years that I’ve lived in KY now. I am thinking of moving, although it would be a tragic loss, but can’t imagine another winter like this!

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            1. I live in Florida and get migraines very frequently the weather is constantly changing and I’m usually hospitalized 4 times a month not including 7other times or so that I don’t go a month

         3. Best herb on the planet 🙂 I’ve used it for years…oh what a relief it is 🙂
            Garden of Life – SINUS.
            Iridologist said no Dairy…..Sinus issues gone away. I only use the herb if I travel and get a Sinus headache.

            Thanks

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   2. Hi JT: I’m not even sure if this page is still live, but I’ve been unable to determine from US Weather Service data if areas in rainshadow of WA state are more “blue” than surrounding areas. E.g. Coupeville, WA on Whidbey Island, or Sequim, WA. Do you have data on this, or know how I can get it? Thank you! (btw, I have had HUGE success with controlling migraines, fibromyalgia, etc. by reading Dr. Josh Turknett’s (neurologist and migraineur) book, and following an ancestral and/or keto diet. I am off all Rx meds, and only take the very occasional ibuprofem (and mostly for occ. back pain) I feel like a new person! But my #1 trigger is still barometric pressure swings, so am trying to factor this in to our next move.)

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      1. Interesting – Elizabeth Wrenn – I have been researching a move to Sequim/Olympic Peninsula, Whidbey Island for my health as year-round climate in North Carolina has become unbearable for me with 7-8 months of heat, consistently high dew point over 70 degrees and wild shifts in barometric pressure. That’s what brought me here. I am a migraneur living with ME/CFS and had my 3rd relapse last summer which also required another leave of absence from a job. I am researching a keto diet as well & hope the move & lifestyle adjustments will bring me back to 80-90% functionality.

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         1. I hope you did not move here to the Olympic Peninsula. I suffer every winter from barometric sinus headaches! Go south to a warmer, drier area and research using the info provided above. Good luck!

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      2. Which one of Josh Turnkett’s book helped you with your fibromyalgia and migraines? I search his name and found a few books about migraines but nothing in regards to fibromyalgia. Did you just experience improvement in your fibromyalgia symptoms as you followed one of his migraine diets or is there a book he wrote that I am not finding? Thank you

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4. Exactly what I needed! Thanks!

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5. I near near Wallopps Island VA. My health condition is highly impacted by barametric pressure (low) and variance in pressure. Would I benefit by moving to Corpus Christi TX and if so by how many more good days per month. Now depending on weather I can feel good from 1-4 days per week. The 4 is very seldom. I wud appreciate a response I’m desperate to feel better. Thank you in advance.

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   1. Hi, Karen.

      I’m sorry to hear that you have so many headaches!

      First, a disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, and am in no way qualified to give medical advice. I organized this data for myself and for the benefit of those who believe that living in a place with less barometric variation would be good for their health, so that they could see which cities have more or less barometric variation. For my own health, I am always going to try to live in a city with less variation because I have noticed the difference with my own migraines. For you and anyone else reading this, I would strongly advise consulting with a neurologist and learning as much as you can about your own condition before considering moving based solely on some barometric pressure data you found on the web! As has been pointed out above, my analysis of the data only considers day-to-day pressure variation, whereas it may be intraday (within a 24 hour period) variation that really matters.

      With the disclaimers out of the way, I can tell you that over the period of time I looked at, Corpus Christi had an average of 30 to 35 days per year where the barometric variation was more than .20 from one day to the next. Wallopps Island, over the same period, had 85 to 90 days of high inter-day variation. So if the future is anything like the past (also no guarantee of that!) there could be a difference of as much as 50 days per year. This would be very good information to discuss with a neurologist. If you don’t have one in your area, you can find one practicing anywhere in your state (make sure to check which insurance they accept!), and ask if they would be willing to schedule you an appointment using http://www.securevideo.com–they can use it for free for up to 2 sessions per month.

      Good luck!

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      1. Thank you so very much for taking your time to check this out for me. I greatly appreciate it. I would never in anyway hold you responsible for any decisions I might have based on your data. I,by far, appreciate you for your willingness to share such valuable information. I would never be able to find this information on my own and as you know intense pain is very difficult to life with and have any kind of quality life. I’m always looking for something or some place that might help me. Thankfully that search that you. I now know that perhaps one day I will be able to move further south or southwest and hopefully find some relief. Again, thank you so very much for sharing your information.

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6. My wife also suffers from migraines when there is a change in barometric pressure, but she also has them when a high pressure zone settles in over the area (Fort Worth). Have you run across this high pressure migraine pattern in your research and what city in the continental US would you recommend for someone who suffers from both of these weather triggers.

   Thank you.

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   1. Hi, Wes. I found a new data source, and I’m actually working on a global list with intraday variation right now, so your timing is good. I’ll keep an eye out on this question as I continue my research.

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7. I have suffered with Migraines since my third pregnancy in 1976 and the son I delivered in that year also suffers from Migraines. He lives in Wenatchee, WA and I presently live in a mountain town in Arizona at 6500 ft level. My migraines have never been worse than they have living here and they are definitely affected by the barometric pressure, Ironically, the barometric pressure in Wenatchee is similar to where I live. None of the medications I take have any real affect on my migraines and they have been worse since moving up here 3 1/2 years ago. I’m trying to decide if moving to a place with a lower variation of barometric will alleviate most of my migraines.

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8. This information is invaluable to me! THANK YOU for all of the work you’ve done!! I’ve actually saved screenshots from the last list you did and am thrilled for this update. My migraines are off of the charts. I move to Longmont, Colorado six years ago from Tampa Bay, Florida and have suffered ever since. This by far has been my worse spring here. Crossing fingers that my sons job offer in Georgia pans out and if it does, I am RUNNING, not walking, to Georgia. I refuse to waste the rest of my life being miserable with these migraines. I suffer the most when the BP takes a dive and here in CO, it’s been happening almost daily all spring. Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart.

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9. I live in Minneapolis, MN. and have had chronic migraines for about 15 years. Most of the time I would get a migraine when there was a change in weather toward overcast and rainy skies. At my work place, about 5 other women with chronic migraines would have gotten a migraine at the same time.
   I am planning a move from Minnesota and Oregon was at the top of my list. I am heading for a visit this summer when they have lots of sunshine. Are there more barometric changes during their rainy season? If it does change, what would it be rated at according to your data?
   Thank you for sharing this very interesting and helpful data. A side note. My dad enjoyed working on clocks that were driven by barometric pressure changes.

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   1. Just so you are aware. There are both wet sides and dry sides in both WA and OR. Extremely different from one side of the state to the other. And in addition you have seasonal changes and much elevation variation. I live in Walla Walla and my life is still dictated by weather, especially barometric pressure drops. Good luck to you.

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10. Thank you so much for writing this article and crunching this data! It is also helpful for true FMS sufferers. Thanks to you, I can show my doctor another dataset that shows I’m not crazy for thinking that I am being adversely affected by barometric pressure changes where I live. Even more importantly, I can see places to add to my list for where to move when the kids are out of school!

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11. Hi there,
    Thanks for all the work you did.
    It was the most helpful list I’ve found!
    Question, did you happen to come across any info on how the changes affect ppl? I.E. Is it the lower the number 29, 28, etc., or is it how fast it drops, or is it relative, it is 31 and it dropped to 30, and that < my pain or anything lower than 29 < my pain? And, have you noticed if it's fluid based, like arthritis is joint fluid, headache is blood pressure, or back could be disc fluid, ??????
    I'm just wondering?
    I know you're not a doc, but neither am I and we are the ones that live it, so we have some expertise here too.
    Anyway, thanks again. Lisa

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    1. As for the importance of the absolute number versus the relative change in the number, I read several years ago that the change seemed to be the important factor. That’s when I started keeping a migraine journal for myself to keep track of pressure changes and headaches, and from that I noticed that the two went hand-in-hand for me. It was at that point that I undertook this research. I have never looked for any correlation between the absolute pressure number and incidence of migraines. I would encourage anyone reading this to keep a journal of their headache days, along with anything else they think might be a trigger. In mine I included such things as not only the air pressure, but what I ate, how much I slept, how many hours I worked, etc. From this journal I saw that the air pressure changes were the most important unaddressed factor for me (I had addressed some other factors by giving up caffeine and aspartame a long time ago, as well as having focused on keeping hydrated.) I think that keeping a migraine journal for a very long time, and then bringing that to a neurologist for analysis, is really a promising way to figure out what your triggers are. We are all different, and I would guess that we all have different triggers. And then, for those who have determined that air pressure changes are an actual trigger, this list could be helpful.

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12. Thank you so much for this. Finally, after years of searching, this is just what I needed. We’ll be moving in the next three years. Not sure where, yet, but we have more options than I ever imagined.

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    1. P.S. My primary problem is fibromyalgia, not migraines, but I’ve noticed how much better I feel when I’ve been in Atlanta, Houston, and Lodi (near Stockton). Barometric pressure affects my pain alot.

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13. This makes so much sense to me! We moved to MN from South Texas and I had never had migraines. I not only get them 1-2 times a week during spring/fall seasons, I have vertigo attacks during this time as well. I hadn’t had a vertigo attack in over 25 years until we moved here. Thank you!

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    1. Thank you so much for the help in assessing the situation in the US. I’ve tried the link provided for the global assessment and it is now a broken link. Might you offer to repost/send it?

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       1. Hi MK–thank you for your comment! The link has now been fixed.

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14. So I’ll add my two cents here, someone else may benefit Is my hope. I spent 30+ years as a self employed mason, Lots of lifting equals lots of spinal /disc degeneration issues.
    After 3 neck surgeries and enduring years of chronic nerve pain, I spent 4 months in the the hills of Tijeras New Mexico, I could not believe the decrease in my pain issues, coincidence? I don’t know,but I plan on going back for a few weeks to see what happens.
    Its nothing like living in the northeast, and I would miss it, but if it mean less days dealing with chronic pain, I all in.
    If anyone out there has dealt with similar issues, or results from moving to a dry climate,I’d love to hear your comments. Thank you.

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15. My wife suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis, that seem to increase in severity with the barometric pressure. Other than moving (which we do plan to do soon), can anyone give us some suggestions?

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    1. I have severe lupus (affects not only my joints, but major organ systems). We are in Illinois and I’ve never been sicker. I felt better when we lived in Texas. Felt even better in California and Florida (visits) and even Mexico and the VI.

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    2. I live in PA. I have Psoriatic Arthritis and other conditions related. Swelling of my legs, very painful back, walking is difficult. The barometric pressure changes this month of February have been off the charts. One day 70 degrees, next day 37 degrees. I get so sick when the temps go up or down 10+ degrees.
       I know I am in the wrong place. Living on a beach at sea level would be ideal.
       That requires a large investment.
       Good luck to your wife. Go away for the winter months if you can and stay directly on the ocean.

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16. Thanks for so much great info! I have had serious vertigo episodes for over ten years and been through many remedies and surgeries with limited results and improvement. I live in Rio Rancho NM. ( 5280′ elevation and .16 using the Albuquerque numbers from your research. The episodes seem to occur when sudden pressure changes occur and or when I travel to different elevations. Your research has me considering if a move would be beneficial. I have been researching some ares using the Weather Underground data history for a year at a time and transferring it to an Excel worksheet. Many of my worksheets are very close to yours but some are considerably different. I am using the inter-day changes in pressure over .20 and calculating the number of days a year it occurs. For this past year my figures show that the changes over .20 occurred 84 days or 23% of the time. I noticed that you use the change from one day to the next. Do you use the high, low or average of each day?

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    1. The data I used were typically from a single point in time, at the same time each day. So basically I was using readings taken every 24 hours, but as far as what time of day, it really varied from weather station to weather station.

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    2. Hi Ray,

       Would you be willing to share your data? My parents’ health is highly affected by BP and changes in BP from day to day. The above list is extremely helpful, but I would truly appreciate if you would be willing to share what you have gathered as well.

       Sincerely, Krista

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18. I live in NY and suffer from RA and Fibro. On Saturday, December 23, of this year, I woke up with practically no feeling in my legs. They ached from head to toe. It was extremely cold outside and raining. When I woke up the very next morning, I was 95% better. Was there a significant change in BP on this day?
    Thanks for all your hard work. When I retire in 4 years, I will definitely spend at least the winter months in one of the cities you site as having the least variability in BP. I was also thinking of winters in Spain or France. Is there data for those countries?
    Thanks again, Geri

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    1. Hi, Geri. Yes, see https://sv2021.wpengine.com/blog/2016/03/18/global-barometric-variation-annual-maps-and-monthly-raw-data

       Spain seems a lot better than France in terms of barometric pressure variation. There’s quite a big difference between Valencia, Spain, and Paris, France.

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       1. Thank you so much. It feels so good to be validated. Awhile back, when I mentioned the BP theory to my rheumatologist, his reply was, “yes, some of my patients tell me that the weather effects them.” (Clearly implying he didn’t believe it)! Again, your work has positively effected so many people. Thank you!!!!

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19. Very interesting. Born and raised in KY. The last bunch of years I have been affected by the winter weather more and more. And most recently ended up with Vertigo. Not knowing the true cause, we are taking a week long trip to Sarasota this May. We will see if I have any episodes there If not, then I will consider that a sign to move South. Living in a mountainous region is very hard to deal with. Especially when traveling around.

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20. WOW~ This is fascinating! THANK YOU for all your hard work! I suffer from severe Fibromyalgia and CFS. I live in Santa Barbara County, CA – so it looks like a fairly stable barometric area, yes? Just want to be sure I am understanding the readings correctly! What about Oregon? We plan on retiring up there, and I would love to know which areas have the most stable barometric pressure…..again, THANK YOU. You help a lot of people out there feel validated, and that is VERY important work!

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    1. According to the map, Santa Barbara is about as good as it gets in the continental U.S. You can expect more barometric pressure variation in Oregon, especially if you’re considering Portland or anywhere in northern Oregon, so this might make things more challenging for you if your Fibromyalgia and CFS are indeed linked to 24-hour changes in barometric pressure. I would suggest to anyone who believes that barometric pressure variation is a cause of their ailment, if possible to arrange a 3-4 week “tryout” trip before relocating permanently to a new area, particularly if that trip can be done in the winter when the variation is highest. For some, I think that could prevent an unwise move (either a move towards higher variation which a “tryout” could show to be very problematic, or a move towards lower variation in hopes of finding remedy but that “tryout” shows that the lower variation does not produce a remedy.)

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21. I live in Denver, but as good as its reputation for being painless for osteoarthritis sufferers, I beg to differ. I’m still stumped on how to guage where to live. Any ideas? Another question, would Texas be worse?

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22. For anyone that is basically stuck somewhere on the high end of the list, I read one guy say that when you live in a very stable area, you become more sensitive to the changes, so you react more strongly to smaller changes than if you were in a less stable area. I don’t quite believe that his point, that it really doesn’t make that much difference, is correct after the last two weeks after a move to the mountains from the coast, but maybe there’s some consolation there. Kinda.

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23. i’m 18 & have lived in anchorage alaska my entire life and had gotten a plethora of differing diagnoses since i was 13 for my knee pain which tumbled into overall joint pain, i recently started learning about barometric pressure and seeing how it effects me day to day so to see (mostly) all of alaska in the higher up range of this list has been so encouraging and reassuring, instead of just seeing the 30+ photos of barometric pressure from my weather app.

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