You are probably aware of the huge underwater volcano that erupted in the Pacific Ocean close to Tonga on Saturday Morning (UK time). As far as I am concerned Tonga is on the other side of the world and I didn’t think it would result in any measurable effects by my weather station in the UK.
However, that turned out not to be the case. I’m not sure of the time scale to reach us as the volcano erupted at about 17:30 Tonga local time and it took until 19:00 local time here in Wakefield for the effects to be recorded in the barometric readings on my weather station.
Normally the pressure readings are a reasonable smooth line as the pressure gradually falls or rises. You can see from the readings on the above chart the sudden fluctuations around 19:00 on Saturday, circled in blue on the chart, where the sudden changes in pressure brought about by the eruption were recorded.
I haven’t checked yet but apparently, that was the shock wave that came the shortest way around the world and one arrived several hours later that had come the long way round.
Amazing. That was some eruption.