true and not true...
The International System of Units aproves the USE of BAR, but doesn't include it in it's list of metric stuff
BAR uses mili, centi, kilo, hecto and so on like other metric units
bar and pascals are multiplied by a factor of 10.
* 1 bar = 100 000 pascals (Pa)
* 1 mbar = 0.001 bar
this makes it kinda metric.
as a footnote: square meter is also approved to USE by the IS, but is not metric :-(
btw weather forecast in belgium use hectopascal