BEAUFORT SCALE

beaufort scale, a series of numbers from 0 to 12 arranged by admiral sir francis beaufort (1774-1857) in 1805, to indicate the strength of the wind from a calm, force 0, to a hurricane, force 12, with sailing directions such as "5, smacks shorten sails" for coast purposes, and "royals, &c., 'full and by'" for the open sea. an exhaustive report was made in 1906 by the meteorological office on the relation between the estimates of wind-force according to beaufort's scale and the velocities recorded by anemometers belonging to the office, from which the following table is taken:-- +---------------+--------------------+------------------+ | | | limits of hourly | |beaufort scale.| corresponding wind.| velocity. | +---------------+--------------------+------------------+ | numbers. | | miles per hour. | | 0 | calm | under 2 | | 1-3 | light breeze | 2-12 | | 4-5 | moderate wind | 13-23 | | 6-7 | strong wind | 24-37 | | 8-9 | gale | 38-55 | | 10-11 | storm | 56-75 | | 12 | hurricane |above 75 | +---------------+--------------------+------------------+