What is the Beaufort scale?
The Beaufort wind force scale, or simply Beaufort scale, was devised at the beginning of the 19th century (around 1805) to provide a standard measure of wind speeds for sailors. It was subsequently extended for land use about a century later, in 1906, by George Simpson. The Beaufort scale is one wind scale among many that had been developed at the time, but after it became the mandatory standard for measuring wind speeds in the Royal Navy in 1838, the scale continued to stick, as it does to this day. The Beaufort scale has 12 degrees, ranging from calm air to hurricane-force winds. In 1969 stages 13-17 were added for special cases such as especially strong tempests and hurricanes, although this scale is usually separately called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Starting from 0 corresponding to calm, the Beaufort scale ascends to light air at 1, light breeze at 2, gentle breeze at 3, moderate breeze at 4, fresh breeze at 5, strong breeze at 6, near gale at 7, gale at 8, strong gale a
The Beaufort scale was “finalised” in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort. Previous maritime history saw many scales and descriptions of weather conditions in use which was generally confusing. With no specifics one mans “gale” could be another mans “breeze”. Beaufort gave organisation by presenting a well described list of environment events associated with different wind strengths, and is still highly useful today. Often you’ll see guys down the beach with wind meters, or people looking at the ocean and taking wild guesses at the wind speed. The Beaufort scale is excellent .. if you can see occasional whitecaps (or “whitehorses”), you know it’s around 15 knots.
The Beaufort scale is a handy device for estimating wind speed. It was devised in 1805 by a British Admiral, Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857). Beaufort’s intention was to create a standard method of assessing wind speed, based on sailors’ descriptions of the wind’s effect on the water. In 1926 the scale was modified so it could also be used on land. The Beaufort Scale designates numbers from 0 to 17 to indicate wind speeds, as shown in the table below.
