What is the difference between low pressure and high pressure

Marina Somma is a freelance writer and animal trainer. She holds a B. Marina has worked with a number of publications involving animal science, behavior and training, including animals. The Three Types of Weather Fronts. Warm Front Characteristics. The Effects of a Cyclone. Wind Speed Vs. Air Pressure. How Landforms Affect Weather.

Weather Conditions After a Cold Front. Also, it stops the cloud formation and cyclone formation. Anticyclones are larger than cyclones and have the ability to block the movement of the depressions.

Therefore, high pressure zones help fair, calm weather to prevail for days, sometimes even for weeks. However, in the summertime, when the solar radiation is at its peak, the air is dry and high pressure zones increase the dryness, leading to droughts. A low pressure system is known as a cyclone and a high pressure system as an anti-cyclone. The key difference between low and high pressure systems is that low pressure systems are zones where the air is rising while high pressure systems are zones where the air is sinking.

More importantly, low pressure systems create moist weather, cloudy conditions, and changing weather, whereas high pressure systems support low humidity, dry and warm, fair weather. So, this is another difference between low and high pressure systems. Furthermore, high pressure systems are larger than low pressure systems and more frequent; hence, they cover a greater area than low pressure systems.

Besides, high pressure systems have a longer atmospheric lifetime compared to low pressure systems. The key difference between low and high pressure systems is that low pressure systems are zones where the air is rising, while high pressure systems are zones where the air is sinking. Standing on the ground and looking up, you are looking through the atmosphere. It might not look like anything is there, especially if there are no clouds in the sky.

We live at the bottom of the atmosphere, and the weight of all the air above us is called air pressure. Above every square inch on the surface of the Earth is That means air exerts High in the atmosphere, air pressure decreases.

With fewer air molecules above, there is less pressure from the weight of the air above. This is, in part, because the Earth is not equally heated by the Sun. Areas where the air is warmed often have lower pressure because the warm air rises. These areas are called low pressure systems. But why? The answer has to do with the typical air flow around high and low pressure.

Physically, it seems to make sense to have air flow from high pressure to low pressure. The opposite occurs with high pressure.