Beaufort scale

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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.

1 History
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The scale was created in 1805 by Irishman 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^{[citation needed]}. 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:

v = 0.837 B^3/2 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

Beaufort number	Wind speed				Mean wind speed (kt / km/h / mph)	Description	Wave height		Sea conditions	Land conditions
Beaufort number	kt	km/h	mph	m/s	Mean wind speed (kt / km/h / mph)	Description	m	ft	Sea conditions	Land conditions
0	0	0	0	0-0.2	0 / 0 / 0	Calm	0	0	Flat.	Calm. Smoke rises vertically.
1	1-3	1-6	1-3	0.3-1.5	2 / 4 / 2	Light air	0.1	0.33	Ripples without crests.	Wind motion visible in smoke.
2	4-6	7-11	4-7	1.6-3.3	5 / 9 / 6	Light breeze	0.2	0.66	Small wavelets. Crests of glassy appearance, not breaking	Wind felt on exposed skin. Leaves rustle.
3	7-10	12-19	8-12	3.4-5.4	9 / 17 / 11	Gentle breeze	0.6	2	Large wavelets. Crests begin to break; scattered whitecaps	Leaves and smaller twigs in constant motion.
4	11-16	20-29	13-18	5.5-7.9	13 / 24 / 15	Moderate breeze	1	3.3	Small waves.	Dust and loose paper raised. Small branches begin to move.
5	17-21	30-39	19-24	8.0-10.7	19 / 35 / 22	Fresh breeze	2	6.6	Moderate (1.2 m) longer waves. Some foam and spray.	Smaller trees sway.
6	22-27	40-50	25-31	10.8-13.8	24 / 44 / 27	Strong breeze	3	9.9	Large waves with foam crests and some spray.	Large branches in motion. Whistling heard in overhead wires. Umbrella use becomes difficult.
7	28-33	51-62	32-38	13.9-17.1	30 / 56 / 35	Near gale	4	13.1	Sea heaps up and foam begins to streak.	Whole trees in motion. Effort needed to walk against the wind.
8	34-40	63-75	39-46	17.2-20.7	37 / 68 / 42	Gale	5.5	18	Moderately high waves with breaking crests forming spindrift. Streaks of foam.	Twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road.
9	41-47	76-87	47-54	20.8-24.4	44 / 81 / 50	Strong gale	7	23	High waves (2.75 m) with dense foam. Wave crests start to roll over. Considerable spray.	Light structure damage.
10	48-55	88-102	55-63	24.5-28.4	52 / 96 / 60	Storm	9	29.5	Very high waves. The sea surface is white and there is considerable tumbling. Visibility is reduced.	Trees uprooted. Considerable structural damage.
11	56-63	103-117	64-72	28.5-32.6	60 / 111 / 69	Violent storm	11.5	37.7	Exceptionally high waves.	Widespread structural damage.
12	>63	>117	>72	>32.7	N/A	Hurricane	14+	46+	Huge waves. Air filled with foam and spray. Sea completely white with driving spray. Visibility very greatly reduced.	Massive and widespread damage to structures.

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.

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.