Nearly all books and other writing on weather that we have seen argue that this is not important and that all the barometer is for is to show trends up or down, fast or slow. They do not teach or disucss the value of knowing the absolute pressure. We do not agree with this philosophy. We strongly advocate knowing the actual true pressure underway, as it is your best way to confirm the weather map. With accurate wind speed and direction and with accurate pressure you can at least tell if the map in right in your immediate vicinity. But to do this, you need accurate pressure.

In the past it was a rather tedious process to do the barometer calibration — especially before the advent of the Internet. With so many archived pressure readings on the Internet, it is not so difficult a job now, but it still has to be done for typical aneroid devices — and it should be done as well, at least once as a check, for even the most modern electronic devices if you intend to rely on them as we recommend.

Obviously, good aneroid devices will do the job, as they have done for many decades, but they will require calibration if they are to be used for validating weather maps. As for electronic barometers, over the past two years we have come across two brands that we have tested adequately enough to state that it appears they need no calibration curves beyond a simple zero offset to get the base pressure correct. Below are the electronic devices we have found that we like and have tested extensively.

I feel sacrilegious as I write it — especially after having spent so many hundreds of hours working on aneroid barometer issues in the past — but from all practical points of view, those beautiful brass aneroid devices are a thing of the past. It is much like quartz watches doing away with chronometers.