Forecasting weather system movement with pressure tendency

  • Pressure tendency - The rate at which pressure is changing for a given period of time. (mb/hr)
  • Lines of constant pressure change are called isallobars.
  • Lows will tend to move to region of largest negative pressure tendencies
  • Highs will tend to move to region of largest positive pressure tendencies
  • Check out the isallobar map for today.

QUESTION FOR THOUGHT:

If a wave cyclone became stationary and its intensity were to remain the same, what would the spatial distribution of the isallobars look like?

image adopted from Meteorology Today by C. Donald Ahrens  © 1994 West Publishing Company