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We took a shotgun approach to answering your question, peppering random search engines with terms like "barometer," "barometic pressure," "air pressure," and finally "weather." As luck would have it, our best results came from that last query, which led us to the Yahoo! Meteorology category (under Science > Earth Sciences). There we found columnist Jack Williams of USA Today and his Ask Jack site. Browsing through the meteorologist's "Frequently Asked Questions" list, we quickly spotted the entry "Air pressure, what it is, how it's measured, what it means." That
sounded pretty comprehensive to us, so we clicked on it. Turns out that "falling air pressure means that clouds and precipitation are likely," whereas "rising air pressure signals that clear weather is likely." Ultimately, this means that a single pressure reading isn't as useful as the short-term trend, which is why you hear the terms "falling" and "rising" used in forecasts. If you're looking for a more detailed discussion of the science of air pressure, check out the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Online Meteorology Guide. Or take matters into your own hands and build your own barometer with help from Bill Nye the Science
Guy.
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