low pressure vs high pressure (weather)

255 viewsOtherPhysics

I cannot understand for the life of me the idea of low pressure vs high pressure in the atmosphere. Example: hurricane Milton has one of the lowest pressures ever recorded. Tried watching videos, reading, etc. Seems counterintuitive that low pressure = bad weather and high pressure = good weather?

In: Physics

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The atmosphere consists of blobs of high pressure air moving and bumping into each other. Each of the blobs has a center where the pressure is highest, and as you move towards the edge of the blobs the pressure goes down. It is lowest at the boundaries between blobs. It is the interaction of these blobs, which have different temperature and humidity profiles, along their low pressure boundaries which usually causes our more dramatic weather events. At their centers, the blobs are pretty stable so we see calmer weather there.

You are viewing 1 out of 6 answers, click here to view all answers.