Barometer Range

Browse our wide range of weather barometer styles, from traditional barometers and banjo barometers through to new modern barometer designs for the home. We also have a range of outdoor barometers that are suitable for your garden.

Weather Barometers measure atmospheric pressure, and often have a tendency indicator of what the weather might do – If the needle is falling then it suggests rain or worse storm; if it is in the mid point it suggests change; if the needle is rising, then the barometer will say ‘fair’ or ‘good’.

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What is a Barometer? (A Short History)

The barometer officially came into existence in 1643, invented by the Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli. The background of barometers is as a scientific instrument to measure the weight of air pressing down upon it. Atmospheric pressure (which is to say the weight of the air directly above us) acts as an indicator of weather. Fluctuations in the recorded air pressure can often predict the impending changes in weather.

A rapid drop in air pressure has the effect of providing insufficient force to push clouds away rapidly. This results in inclement weather often hanging around for longer. Low air pressure is therefore associated with cloudy, rainy, or windy weather. Inversely, a rapid increase in pressure leads to clear skies and dry air.

Evangelista Torricelli discovered that a column of water in a glass tube would rise and fall as the air pressure changed. However, the tube length necessary to perform this experiment was taller than the height of his house, leading to his neighbours suggesting that he was involved in witchcraft. In order to avoid scrutiny, Torricelli reworked his experiment with the heaviest fluid he could find, which would require a much shorter tube. Mercury was chosen as it is 13.5 times as dense as water.

The mercury-based barometer was born. These barometers worked by having a tube sealed at the top and filled with the fluid. At the bottom was a reservoir of the same fluid, open to the air. As the air pressure increases, the weight of the air pushes the mercury up the tube, while the vacuum created by gravity pulling the mercury back down the tube prevents the fluid from entirely running out.  

Unfortunately, mercury is a dangerous chemical. The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on many organs within the body. While mercury-based barometers were manufactured and sold worldwide until comparatively recently,  for environmental and health reasons, the continued manufacture of such barometers were banned in many areas of the world in the early 2000s.

Analogue Barometers

While the Mercury Barometer is now banned, there is another type of analogue barometer still available on the market; the aneroid barometer. These are the type of devices most commonly seen in home settings as they make attractive wall décor as well as being functional. You can see our wide range of designs here. Many of these designs are also suitable for mounting outdoors.

Invented in 1844 by French Scientist Lucien Vidi, these dial-fronted barometers have a metal chamber that expands and contracts, dependant on the air pressure acting upon it. The changes in the chamber size are measured mechanically.

The circular face of the aneroid barometer has a display that indicates the current air pressure and is reminiscent of a clock face with one hand. The hand moves back and forward in a clockwise/anticlockwise motion to indicate the current pressure, commonly measured in millibars.

Aneroid designs are cheaper, lighter, easier to transport and safer to be around when damage occurs. Because of this and their generally appealing looks, the aneroid design came to dominate the barometer market a long time ago.

Many aneroid designs are paired with a thermometer and a hygrometer, which measures humidity, in a design known as a ‘Banjo Barometer.’ Indoor analogue barometers are often beautiful to look at, being a mix of wood and metal, often brass, that adds an old-world antique influence to any room they are added to.

Outdoor barometers tend towards being entirely metal, giving them the ability to stand up to the elements. They are often much more compact than the banjo barometer and may have a lip protruding from the top to protect the device from rain further.

Common units for pressure include pounds per inch; newtons per square meter; inches, centimetres, or millimetres of mercury; and millibars. We also refer to the standard air pressure on Earth at sea level as being 1 atmosphere, which equates to 14.7 pounds per square inch or 1013.25 millibars.

Historically, barometers were especially important on sailing vessels, as oncoming storms cause fast dips in the air pressure. Therefore the barometer acted as an early warning for sailors, giving them to prepare the ship for the incoming squall.

Early altimeters in places were also barometers, using changes in air pressure to indicate height above sea level.

Modern Barometers

Unsurprisingly, in our modern times, analogue barometers have lost a lot of ground to digital barometers. This is in large part thanks to the ability of digital devices to easily display a wealth of data at the touch of a button, with more accuracy, while also being easier to read than analogue devices.

In addition, many modern digital barometers can record readings; showing both the current values and the information from up to 24 hours ago. They present these readings as a bar chart for easy comparison. This is very similar to a barograph, which is the older analogue version of the aneroid barometer that included clever mechanisms to etch a record on a slowly moving roll of paper.

If you doubt that you have any use for a barometer in your life, consider this – the digital barometer is embedded in most modern smartphones. It is the technology that allows your phone to detect your elevation, which helps the built-in GPS of your smartphone to detect where you are more accurately. It does this by measuring the air pressure, which decreases as you rise in elevation.

There are two distinct types of modern barometer currently available. As digital barometers rely on a screen, it is unsurprising that they are generally rectangular, with an LCD panel that displays all of the information gathered by the device. This often includes a graphic interpretation of how the day may look, such as clouds with the sun peaking out. The LCD panel is often monochrome, but it is possible to purchase digital barometers with displays that are more colourful in design and font for very little extra money.

If you hunger for sleek, modern-looking designs but still prefer the analogue option of aneroid dials, there are also many options that feature brushed metals or frosted glass, with either a trio of dials or a single face.

The Future for Barometers

Modern technology is slowly changing the way that many scientific instruments are used. Where does this leave the humble wall mounted barometer? Barometers are getting smarter all the time. Many can be linked with up to 3 temperature and humidity sensors located inside & outside your home to allow you to not only monitor air pressure (which should be uniform throughout your house) but also to gather internal/external temperatures and monitor them from each location, ideal if you have areas of your house prone to becoming sun traps or overly cold in the winter.

For many, the decision to add a barometer to their home will be aesthetic as much as a functional one. Whether it is to add a touch of classic style with wood and metal aneroid designs, a modern minimalist designs, or you prefer a higher level of interactive data on display in digital form, there is be a barometer to suit your home.