The Beaufort scale

The Beaufort scale was introduced in 1806 by British Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774- 1857) to describe wind effects on a fully rigged man-of-war ship. It was later extended to describe how winds affect land features such as trees.

The Beaufort scale is divided into values from 0 for calm winds to 12 and above for hurricanes. Forecasters often describe winds by their force number – for example, a force 10 gale. Wind speed can also be measured in knots: 1knot = 1.85 km/h.

0 Calm : 0-2 km/h

1 Light air : 3-6km/h

2 Slight breeze : 7-11 km/h

3 Gentle breeze : 12-19 km/h

4 Moderate breeze : 20-28 km/h

5 Fresh breeze : 29-38 km/h

6 Strong breeze : 39-49 km/h

7 High wind : 50-61 km/h

8 Gale : 62-74 km/h

9 Strong gale : 75-88 km/h

10 Whole gale : 89-102 km/h

11 Storm : 103-117 km/h

12 Hurricane: 118 km/h +

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