High pressure is forecasted to build in for the later half of the week which will allow temperatures to warm during the day. High pressure flows in a clockwise fashion and is associated with a sinking motion. The compression of the air allows the air to heat up and dry out. High pressure oftentimes brings mild, sunny weather and low pressure systems bring stormy weather, but that is not always true. Regardless, air pressure plays a huge role in our weather.
There's a simple experiment you can do at home to show the power of air pressure. All you need is a cup of water and a card. What happens is there is more air pressure outside the cup than inside, and when you flip it upside down everything stays. The water stays in the cup and the card sticks to the container.
Both temperature and pressure changes as you go up in height. Which usually means you’ll have to bundle up if you want to go skiing. It’s usually colder up there than in the valley, unless there is an inversion. Wintertime inversions are associated with high pressure, and warmer air aloft. This set up can also keep valley temperatures quite cold at night. It can also trap a lot of pollution in the valley and lower the air quality. The warm air is basically a lid on the colder, stagnant air below it. This is a great excuse to escape to the mountains and breathe in fresh air. Looking out from the mountains you can also get a good view of the low clouds blanketing the valley. Fog is another way for clouds and light rain to form even if high pressure is in place. After it snows high pressure can build in behind the storm and clear us out. As the skies clear and winds go calm, the temperature reaches the dewpoint and forms a low cloud or fog.
We can also get cloud cover with high pressure if the flow is coming from the west northwest and there is some high level moisture. This has been happening a lot lately and is called a dirty high. If you like hot and sunny weather though, ridges during the summertime are more so your friend. We can get thunderstorms with ridges though.
