With the winter weather we’ve been experiencing here on the central plains, watching the change in atmospheric pressure is an interesting and practical hobby.

I’ll admit, digital weather devices are as ubiquitous as the cell phone in your hand, and they are both useful and lifesaving.

Our personal experience was confirmation of this, when this last spring a derecho swept up from the south central plains at 100 mph, dragging a dust storm. A quick update on my smartphone alerted us to the severity of the storm and we were able to batten down the hatches and prevent more serious damage to life and limb.

And yet, on our dining room wall is a small round instrument the size of a salad plate. It’s a good, old fashioned aneroid barometer. The mechanism is in a sealed box containing a highly sensitive metal spring that expands or contracts as the air pressure squeezes or releases the box. The spring is attached to a dial that moves on a calibrated scale and shows a numerical measurement of the pressure reading.

Low pressure usually presupposes a storm, while higher pressure typically indicates clear weather. To take a reading you gently tap the glass (to make sure the spring is moving freely), read the air pressure number, then you turn a small gold dial and arm, which protrudes from the center of the glass, parallel with the internal pressure dial. Finally, you wait for some hours and take a reading again. If the pressure has moved, the internal dial will move and the external arm will indicate the previous pressure and the direction of movement, higher or lower, clearer or stormier.

Fun, right? I think so.

Now the why. What does a barometer have to do with a prudent consumer?

Several things…

• When the power goes out. Digital devices are a great first line of defense for weather news, but a good non-digital backup can give additional peace of mind and remind us not to take the power grid for granted.

• Aesthetics. A quality nautical-style barometer looks handsome on the wall alongside a keepsake clock, or other similar arrangement. What do aesthetics have to do with being a prudent consumer? Our physical environment shapes us more than we may realize, and choosing beautiful and quality items to adorn your home environment (always according to sound budgeting) is a way to uplift our outlook. They add value to our surroundings and remind us not to get caught in the trap of buying cheap junk, which is not prudent, usually breaks quickly and requires spending more in the long run than what is saved in the short run (I should know, I’ve been caught there more times than I like to admit). Dignity is both internal and external, our home environment can become a visual expression of how we think about ourselves.

• Skills. Taking readings from an aneroid barometer is a skill set, and skill sets give us flexibility when facing challenges. This particular skill, employing a device that uses a physical mechanism to measure an atmospheric condition, which can help us understand the weather outside is good for our minds. It keeps us in touch with reality. In a philosophical sort of way, anything that reorients us to physical things, such as the weather, helps us to counteract the emotionally invasive influence of the digital, mostly non-reality based onslaught of social media and news. In short, it puts your head in a better place, just as gardening and other outdoor pursuits can do. A barometer can be a small reminder of that outdoor connection during the cold winter months.

Plus, my grandma had one on her wall and my mom remembers the excitement she felt as her brother took pressure readings and they anticipated a coming storm, like the tremendous Columbus Day storm of 1962. Little things can sometimes be the most important things!

Keep a shiny penny and a positive thought!

[If you would like your own device, this is the one we bought on Amazon (as of this writing we’re not an affiliate): barometer. We’ve found it dependable, and durable compared to some we’ve had in the past, and it is a very fine-looking piece (as seen in the photo above) for a wall display. ]

Sources: “Barometers” by Chris Woodford, Jul., 3, 2022 https://www.explainthatstuff.com/barometers.html