Barometer

An instrument used to measure barometric pressure. First described in 1643 by Florentine philosopher and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli, the barometer has in the past four centuries become established as an exceptionally valuable tool in the study and forecasting of tropical cyclones. Initially intended as an investigation into the physical characteristics of a vacuum, Torricelli’s primitive mercurial barometer not only served as a prototype for progressively more sophisticated types of barometers, but also revolutionized the science of meteorology by providing weather watchers with a quantifiable means of observing that most critical of climatological factors, barometric pressure. From the simple glass tubes that Torricelli filled with mercury one August morning, to the cumbersome wheel barometers designed by Robert Hooke in 1673, to the portable aneroid barometers and microbarographs in general use today, the barometer’s versatile design has given meteorologists the keys with which to unlock many of the tropical cyclone’s most destructive and deadly secrets. Now regularly deployed on board hurricane hunting aircraft and meteorological buoys, the barometer aids forecasters in predicting a tropical cyclone’s track and probable intensity at landfall by producing data regarding its central barometric pressure, its pressure gradients, and its inverse barometer.