Beaufort scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beaufort scale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure for describing wind intensity based mainly on observed sea
conditions. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale.

Contents
● 1 History
● 2 References
● 3 See also
● 4 External links

History

The scale was created in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort, a British naval officer and hydrographer. At that
time naval officers made regular weather observations, but there was no scale and so they could be very
subjective - one man's "stiff breeze" might be another's "calm conditions". The initial scale from zero to 12
did not reference wind speed numbers, but related qualitative wind conditions to effects on the sails of a
man of war, then the main ship of the Royal Navy, from "just sufficient to give steerage" to "that which no
canvas [sails] could withstand." The scale was made a standard for ship's log entries on Royal Navy
vessels in the late 1830s.

The scale was adapted to non-naval use from the 1850s, with scale numbers corresponding to cup
anemometer rotations. In 1906, with the advent of steam power, the descriptions were changed to how the
sea, not the sails, behaved and extended to land observations. Rotations to scale numbers were
standardised only in 1923. George Simpson, Director of the UK Meteorological Office, was responsible
for this and for the addition of the land based descriptors. The measure was slightly altered some decades
later to improve its utility for meteorologists. Wind speed on the Beaufort scale can be expressed by the
formula:

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 Beaufort scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

v = 0.837 B3/2 m/s

where v is wind speed and B is Beaufort scale number.

Today, hurricanes are sometimes described as Beaufort scale 12 through 16, with the standard Saffir-
Simpson Hurricane Scale Category 1 equivalent to Beaufort 12, Category 2 to Beaufort 13, and so on.
Category 1 tornadoes on the Fujita and TORRO scales also begin at the end of level 12 of the Beaufort
scale.

The Beaufort scale was extended in 1944, when Forces 13 to 17 were added. However, Forces 13 to 17
were intended to apply only to special cases, such as tropical cyclones. Nowadays, the extended scale is
only used in Taiwan and mainland China, which are often affected by typhoons.

Note that wave heights in the scale are for conditions in the open ocean, not along shore.

Mean
wind Wave
Wind speed speed
Beaufort height Land
(kt / Description Sea conditions
number conditions
km/
kt km/h mph m/s h/ m ft
mph)
0/0/ Calm. Smoke
0 0 0 0 0-0.2 Calm 0 0 Flat.
0 rises vertically.
Wind motion
0.3- 2 / 4 / Ripples
1 1-3 1-6 1-3 Light air 0.1 0.33 visible in
1.5 2 without crests.
smoke.
Small
wavelets.
Wind felt on
1.6- 5 / 9 / Crests of
2 4-6 7-11 4-7 Light breeze 0.2 0.66 exposed skin.
3.3 6 glassy
Leaves rustle.
appearance,
not breaking

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Beaufort scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Large
wavelets. Leaves and
3.4- 9/ Crests begin to smaller twigs
3 7-10 12-19 8-12 Gentle breeze 0.6 2
5.4 17 / 11 break; in constant
scattered motion.
whitecaps
Dust and
loose paper
11- 13- 5.5- 13 / Moderate
4 20-29 1 3.3 Small waves. raised. Small
16 18 7.9 24 / 15 breeze
branches
begin to move.
Moderate (1.2
17- 19- 8.0- 19 / m) longer Smaller trees
5 30-39 Fresh breeze 2 6.6
21 24 10.7 35 / 22 waves. Some sway.
foam and spray.
Large
branches in
motion.
Large waves Whistling
22- 25- 10.8- 24 / with foam heard in
6 40-50 Strong breeze 3 9.9
27 31 13.8 44 / 27 crests and overhead
some spray. wires.
Umbrella use
becomes
difficult.
Whole trees in
Sea heaps up
motion. Effort
28- 32- 13.9- 30 / and foam
7 51-62 Near gale 4 13.1 needed to
33 38 17.1 56 / 35 begins to
walk against
streak.
the wind.
Moderately
high waves
Twigs broken
with breaking
34- 39- 17.2- 37 / from trees.
8 63-75 Gale 5.5 18 crests forming
40 46 20.7 68 / 42 Cars veer on
spindrift.
road.
Streaks of
foam.

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 Beaufort scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

High waves
(2.75 m) with
dense foam.
Light
41- 47- 20.8- 44 / Wave crests
9 76-87 Strong gale 7 23 structure
47 54 24.4 81 / 50 start to roll
damage.
over.
Considerable
spray.
Very high
waves. The sea
Trees
surface is
uprooted.
48- 88- 55- 24.5- 52 / white and there
10 Storm 9 29.5 Considerable
55 102 63 28.4 96 / 60 is considerable
structural
tumbling.
damage.
Visibility is
reduced.
60 / Widespread
56- 103- 64- 28.5- Exceptionally
11 111 / Violent storm 11.5 37.7 structural
63 117 72 32.6 high waves.
69 damage.
Huge waves.
Air filled with
foam and
Massive and
spray. Sea
widespread
12 >63 >117 >72 >32.7 N/A Hurricane 14+ 46+ completely
damage to
white with
structures.
driving spray.
Visibility very
greatly reduced.

The scale is used in, and may be most recognizable to some from, the Shipping Forecasts broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.

This scale is also widely used in China. Taiwan uses the Beaufort scale extended in 1944 with Forces 13-
17 to better represent the wind caused by typhoons. On the morning of May 15, 2006, mainland China
suddenly introduced the extended scale to Force 17 without any prior notice. [1] This extended scale was
immediately put into use for Typhoon Chanchu. Hong Kong and Macau keep using Force 12 as the
maximum and adopted a set of simpler descriptions for public. The descriptions used in Hong Kong are
shown here. Macau used similar descriptions except the term gentle is retained for Force 3.

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 Beaufort scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the United States, winds of Beaufort 6 or 7 result in the issuance of a small craft advisory, with force 8
or 9 winds bringing about a gale warning, 10 or 11 a storm warning (or "tropical storm warning" for 8 to
11 if related to a tropical cyclone), and anything stronger a hurricane warning.

References
● Scott Huler, Defining the Wind : The Beaufort Scale, and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned
Science into Poetry, Crown, 2004, ISBN 1-4000-4884-2

See also
● Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
● Fujita scale
● TORRO scale
● Cliwoc

External links
● UK Meteorological Office: The Beaufort Scale

● Investigating Clouds : A lesson plan from the National Science Digital Library that uses the
Beaufort Scale.

● National Public Radio : The Beaufort Scale on NPR - interview with Scott Huler.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale"

Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | Scales | Winds

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