The air pressure of the high altitude condition in the artificial climate chamber is simulated, and the laboratory investigation of positive rod plate lightning impulse discharge performance were carried out on the short air gaps of 200 mm, 300 mm and 450 mm according to the test method demanded in IEC 60.1. Based the tested results, it is put forward that the positive lightning impulse breakdown voltage of a short air gap at the air pressure of the high altitude district is a power function of the air pressure with a special index less than 1, which indicates that the effect of the air pressure on the breakdown voltage decreases by 8.7% with the increase of the altitude by 1 kilometer. According to the theoretical analysis, it is proposed that the air pressure suggests the comprehensive changes of the basic atmospheric parameters of the temperature, the reltive air density and the absolute humidity, thus it could be used as the characteristic variable which expresses the effect of the absolute humidity, thus it could be used as the characteristic variable which expresses the effect of the atmospheric condition on the breakdown voltage of an air gap.