Dear Francis Karsh,
Your question regarding record low and record high air pressure values appeared on this weather page yesterday.
The answers were, respectively, 26.35″, measured when a Category 5 hurricane made landfall at Matacumbe Key, Fla., on Sept. 2, 1935, (a U.S. and Western Hemisphere record low pressure), and 32.06″ at Tosontsengel, Mongolia, on Dec. 29, 2001, (a world record high).
Meteorologists have a saying: “The weather will do what it has to do to make you wrong,”
On Wednesday morning, at about the same time that readers of this weather page were perusing your question, Hurricane Wilma underwent explosive intensification as it churned across the Caribbean Sea. Its central air pressure plunged to 26.05 inches, thereby establishing a new record low air pressure value for Atlantic Basin hurricanes and for the Western Hemisphere.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
