The phrase "are barely below" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a situation where something is just slightly lower than a certain level or threshold.
Example: "The temperatures this week are barely below freezing, making it a chilly but manageable winter."
Alternatives: "are just under" or "are slightly beneath".
A devout Catholic from the old Queens, his conservative stripes are barely below the surface.
Adjusted for inflation, local phone rates in most of the country are barely below where they were in 1984, when the original American Telephone and Telegraph Company was broken up.
This phenomenon occurs in the neighbourhoods of those candidate keypoints that were discarded because they are barely below the SIFT thresholds.
We are exploring modifications of the assay format in order to produce a more linear dose-response curve with clinical sera samples, which if found, would facilitate assay standardization and might increase sensitivity (note that 1 2 of the colon cancer responses to one of the antigens tested, β-catenin-Δ1, are barely below the cut-off value used to judge statistical significance).
For example, since 1990, the SPX has spent 56% of Septembers in the red for an average "September return" that is barely below zero.
With that, regional discord that is barely below the surface is leaping out.
But the bitterness engendered by the battle of the past few months was barely below the surface.
Schools were identified for intervention because of test scores alone, so teachers directed disproportionate efforts to a few students whose scores were barely below passing.
But the US president-elect, Barack Obama, expects US emissions to be barely below 1990 levels by then, a target that is less than needed but which could prove stretching to achieve.
At 5.8percentt, however, it's barely below the highest rate reached in connection with the 2001 recession.
Adjust both the reed and ligature so the reed is barely below tip of mouthpiece.
