This unit of pressure is exactly equivalent to one millibar. Meteorologists adopted it to replace the millibar while keeping numerical weather data identical. It is the standard unit used on surface weather maps for atmospheric pressure, where standard sea level pressure is defined as 1013.25 hectopascals.
Heard on the job
The barometer is dropping rapidly and just crossed 990 hectopascals.
Insider tip
Aviation weather reports outside North America report altimeter settings in hectopascals, while the US uses inches of mercury.
Also heard as
- hPa