For centuries, the barometer was the sailor’s most important weather-forecasting tool. Not these days, though. Weather information has become so readily available via radio, VHF, the Internet, even your cell phone, that on many boats the poor old barometer has been relegated to purely decorative duty. This is a shame, because the barometer is no less useful to the voyager today than it was 300 years ago. When its measurements of atmospheric pressure are used in tandem with your observations of wind direction and strength, it can be a reliable (though not infallible) short-term weather forecaster, and it doesn’t depend on a power source.

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