What is the atmospheric pressure like in a hurricane?

Question

What is the atmospheric pressure like in a hurricane?

Answer 1

Low. That's the generic answer. If you start at the bottom of a hurricane and move up through the layers the pressure gets lower and lower. This explains the high winds, in that air (as well as in all mediums) want to go from a high pressure to a low pressure. Since the bottom of a hurricane is highest in pressure (and therefore the heaviest and thickest) it forces air into the upper regions of the hurricane. That combined with the Coriolis Effect is what causes such high winds. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

This site (see source below) from the University of Illinois has a good diagram of how the atmospheric pressure changes when moving from the eye of the hurricane to the edge.  

The atmospheric pressure is highest towards the edge of the hurricane and then decreases as you move closer to the eye.  

The source of this information has additional explanation about the relationship between the atmospheric pressure of the storm and the wind speed and how they are related.

The second source I found says the following:

"A hurricane's wind speed is inversely proportional to the air pressure at the storm's center. Average atmospheric pressure  at sea level is 29.92 inches (76.00 centimeters) of mercury. It has been determined that pressure must drop to or below 29.50 inches (74.93 centimeters) at the center of a storm before a hurricane eye will develop. Some of the lowest pressures ever recorded in a hurricane's eye were 899 millibars in Rita and 902 millibars in Katrina (both in 2005), 910 millibars in Mitch (2004), and 905 millibars in Camille (1969).

Storm size also plays a role in determining wind speed. In two systems with the same central pressure, the smaller storm will have the higher wind velocities. "

  

Answer 3

At the centre of the hurricane,the atmospheric pressure will be approximately 30 to 100 hpa(mb) below the normal sea level pressure.