In weather forecast, high and low temperatures tell you how warm and cool

the air will be during a 24-hour period. The daily maximum temperature,
or high, describes how warm you can expect the air to be, usually from 7 a.m.
to 7 p.m. The daily minimum temperature, or low, tells how much the air is
expected to cool, usually overnight from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

High Temperatures Don't Happen at High Noon

There's a common misconception that high temperatures occur at high noon
when the sun is at its highest elevation. However, this is not the case.

Just as the hottest days of summer don't happen until after the
summer solstice, high temperatures don't usually happen until the late
afternoon — typically 3 to 4 p.m. local time. By this time, the sun's heat has
built up since noon and more heat is present at the surface than is leaving it.
After 3 to 4 p.m., the sun sits low enough in the sky for the amount of outgoing
heat to be greater than that incoming, and so temperatures begin to cool.

How Late at Night Do Lows Happen?

Just how long after 3 to 4 p.m. will temperatures be at their coolest?

While you can typically expect the air temperature to drop as the evening and
nighttime hours wear on, the lowest temperatures don't tend to happen until
just before sunrise.

This can be quite confusing, especially since the low is often listed along with
the word "tonight." To help make it a little clearer, consider this. Let's say you
check the weather for Sunday and see a high of 50°F (10°C) and a low of 33°F
(1°C). The 33 degrees that's displayed is the lowest temperature that'll occur
between 7 p.m. Sunday evening and 7 a.m. Monday morning.

Highs Don't Always Happen During the Day, Nor Lows at

Night
We've talked about the times of day when high and low temperatures occur
90% of the time, but it's important to also know there are exceptions to this.

As backward as it sounds, sometimes the high temperature for the day won't
actually happen until late in the evening or overnight. And likewise, the low
can happen during midday. In winter, for example, a weather system may
move into an area and its warm front sweep across a region late in the day. But
by the start of the next day, the system's cold front then enters and sends the
mercury dropping throughout the daytime hours. (If you've ever noticed a
downward-facing arrow next to the high temperature in your weather forecast,
this is what it means.)
All things in nature have a diurnal or "daily" pattern simply because they
change throughout the course of a day.

In meteorology, the term "diurnal" most often refers to the change of

temperature from the daytime high to the nighttime low.

Why Highs Don't Happen at High Noon

The process of reaching a daily high (or low) temperature is a gradual one. It
begins each morning when the Sun rises and its rays extend toward and strike
the Earth's surface. Solar radiation directly heats the ground, but because of
land's high heat capacity (ability to store heat), the ground doesn't
immediately warm. Just as a pot of cold water must first warm before coming
to a boil, so must the land absorb a certain amount of heat before its
temperature rises. As the ground's temperature warms, it heats a shallow layer
of air directly above it by conduction. This thin layer of air, in turn, heats the
column of cool air above it.

Meanwhile, the Sun continues its trek across the sky. At high noon, when it
reaches its peak height and is directly overhead, sunlight is at its most
concentrated strength. However, because the ground and air must first store
heat before radiating it to surrounding areas, maximum air temperature isn't
yet reached. It actually lags this period of maximum solar heating by several
hours!

Only when the amount of incoming solar radiation equals the amount of
outgoing radiation does the daily high temperature occur. The time of day this
generally happens depends on a number of things (including geographic
location and time of year) but is usually between the hours of 3-5 p.m. local
time.

After noon, the Sun begins its retreat across the sky. From now until sunset,
the intensity of incoming solar radiation continually declines. When more heat
energy is being lost to space than is incoming at the surface, a minimum
temperature is reached.

30 F of (Temperature) Separation
On any given day, the temperature swing from low and high temperature is
roughly 20 to 30 F. A number of conditions can widen or lessen this range,
such as:

 Day length. The greater (or shorter) the number of daylight hours, the
more (or less) time the Earth is subject to heating. Length of daylight
hours is determined by geographic location as well as season.
 Cloudiness. Clouds are good at both absorbing and giving off
longwave radiation, and at reflecting shortwave radiation (sunlight). On
 cloudy days, the ground is shielded from incoming solar radiation
because this energy is reflected back out into space. Less incoming heat
means less -- and a decrease in diurnal temperature variation. On
cloudy nights, diurnal range is also decreased, but for opposite reasons -
- heat is trapped near the ground, which allows the day's temperatures
to remain constant rather than to cool.
 Elevation. Because mountain areas are located farther from the
radiating heat source (the sun-heated surface), they are warmed less
and also cool more rapidly after sunset than do valleys.
 Humidity. Water vapor is good at absorbing and giving off longwave
radiation (energy that's released from the Earth) as well as absorbing in
the near-infrared part of solar radiation, which reduces the amount of
daytime energy reaching the surface. Because of this, daily highs are
typically lower in humid environments than they are in dry
environments. This is the primary reason why desert regions experience
some of the most extreme day-to-night temperature fluctuations.
 Wind speed. Winds cause air at different levels of the atmosphere to
mix. This mixing lessens the difference in temperature between warmer
and cooler air, thus decreasing the diurnal temperature range.

Diurnal temperature isn't just essential to understanding how we meet our

high and low air temperatures, it's essential to the science of winemaking.

Air Pressure and How It Affects the Weather

An important characteristic of the Earth's atmosphere is its air pressure,
which determines wind and weather patterns across the globe. Gravity exerts a
pull on the planet's atmosphere just as it keeps us tethered to its surface. This
gravitational force causes the atmosphere to push against everything it
surrounds, the pressure rising and falling as Earth turns.

What Is Air Pressure?

By definition, atmospheric or air pressure is the force per unit of area exerted
on the Earth’s surface by the weight of the air above the surface. The force
exerted by an air mass is created by the molecules that make it up and their
size, motion, and number present in the air. These factors are important
because they determine the temperature and density of the air and, thus, its
pressure.

The number of air molecules above a surface determines air pressure. As the
number of molecules increases, they exert more pressure on a surface, and the
total atmospheric pressure increases. By contrast, if the number of molecules
decreases, so too does the air pressure.

How Do You Measure It?

Air pressure is measured with mercury or aneroid barometers. Mercury
barometers measure the height of a mercury column in a vertical glass tube.
As air pressure changes, the height of the mercury column does as well, much
like a thermometer. Meteorologists measure air pressure in units called
atmospheres (atm). One atmosphere is equal to 1,013 millibars (MB) at sea
level, which translates into 760 millimeters of quicksilver when measured on a
mercury barometer.

An aneroid barometer uses a coil of tubing, with most of the air removed. The
coil then bends inward when pressure rises and bows out when pressure
drops. Aneroid barometers use the same units of measurement and produce
the same readings as mercury barometers, but they don't contain any of the
element.

Air pressure is not uniform across the planet, however. The normal range of
the Earth's air pressure is from 970 MB to 1,050 MB.1 These differences are
the result of low and high air pressure systems, which are caused by unequal
heating across the Earth's surface and the pressure gradient force.

The highest barometric pressure on record was 1,083.8 MB (adjusted to sea

level), measured in Agata, Siberia, on December 31, 1968.2 The lowest
pressure ever measured was 870 MB, recorded as Typhoon Tip struck the
western Pacific Ocean on October 12, 1979.2

Low-Pressure Systems
A low-pressure system, also called a depression, is an area where
the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of the area surrounding it. Lows
are usually associated with high winds, warm air, and atmospheric lifting.
Under these conditions, lows normally produce clouds, precipitation, and
other turbulent weather, such as tropical storms and cyclones.

Areas prone to low pressure do not have extreme diurnal (day versus night)
nor extreme seasonal temperatures because the clouds present over such areas
reflect incoming solar radiation back into the atmosphere. As a result, they
cannot warm as much during the day (or in the summer), and at night, they
act as a blanket, trapping heat below.

High-Pressure Systems
A high-pressure system, sometimes called an anticyclone, is an area where the
atmospheric pressure is greater than that of the surrounding area. These
systems move clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in
the Southern Hemisphere due to the Coriolis Effect.

High-pressure areas are normally caused by a phenomenon called subsidence,

meaning that as the air in the highs cools, it becomes denser and moves
toward the ground. Pressure increases here because more air fills the space left
from the low. Subsidence also evaporates most of the atmosphere's water
vapor, so high-pressure systems are usually associated with clear skies and
calm weather.

Unlike areas of low pressure, the absence of clouds means that areas prone to
high-pressure experience extremes in diurnal and seasonal temperatures since
there are no clouds to block incoming solar radiation or trap outgoing
longwave radiation at night.

Atmospheric Regions
Across the globe, there are several regions where the air pressure is
remarkably consistent. This can result in extremely predictable weather
patterns in regions like the tropics or the poles.

 Equatorial low-pressure trough: This area is in the Earth's

equatorial region (0 to 10 degrees north and south) and is composed of
warm, light, ascending, and converging air.3 Because the converging air
is wet and full of excess energy, it expands and cools as it rises, creating
the clouds and heavy rainfall that are prominent throughout the area.
This low-pressure zone trough also forms the Inter-Tropical
Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and trade winds.
 Subtropical high-pressure cells: Located at 30 degrees
north/south,3 this is a zone of hot, dry air that forms as the warm air
descending from the tropics becomes hotter. Because hot air can hold
more water vapor, it is relatively dry. The heavy rain along the equator
also removes most of the excess moisture. The dominant winds in the
subtropical high are called westerlies.
 Subpolar low-pressure cells: This area is at 60 degrees north/south
latitude and features cool, wet weather.3 The Subpolar low is caused by
the meeting of cold air masses from higher latitudes and warmer air
masses from lower latitudes. In the northern hemisphere, their meeting
forms the polar front, which produces the low-pressure cyclonic
storms responsible for precipitation in the Pacific Northwest and much
of Europe. In the southern hemisphere, severe storms develop along
these fronts and cause high winds and snowfall in Antarctica.
 Polar high-pressure cells: These are located at 90 degrees
north/south and are extremely cold and dry.3 With these systems,
winds move away from the poles in an anticyclone, which descends and
diverges to form the polar easterlies. They are weak, however, because
little energy is available in the poles to make the systems strong. The
Antarctic high is stronger, though, because it is able to form over the
cold landmass instead of the warmer sea.

By studying these highs and lows, scientists are better able to understand the
Earth's circulation patterns and predict the weather for use in daily life,
navigation, shipping, and other important activities, making air pressure an
important component to meteorology and other atmospheric science.