Beaufort scale

[ boh-fert ]

noun

1. a scale of wind forces, described by name and range of velocity, and classified as from force 0 to force 12, or, sometimes, to force 17.
2. a scale of the states of sea created by winds of these various forces up to and including force 10.

Beaufort scale

noun

1. meteorol an international scale of wind velocities ranging for practical purposes from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane force). In the US an extension of the scale, from 13 to 17 for winds over 64 knots, is used

Beaufort scale

/ bō′fərt /

1. A scale for classifying the force of the wind, ranging from 0 ( calm ) to 12 ( hurricane ). A wind classified as 0 has a velocity of less than 1.6 km (1 mi) per hour; a wind classified as 12 has a velocity of over 119 km (74 mi) per hour. Other categories include light air , five levels of breeze , four levels of gale , and storm . The scale was devised in 1805 as a means of describing the effect of different wind velocities on ships at sea. It is named after an admiral in the British navy, Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857).

Word History and Origins

Origin of Beaufort scale¹

1855–60; named after Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), British admiral who devised it

Word History and Origins

Origin of Beaufort scale¹

C19: after Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), British admiral and hydrographer who devised it

Example Sentences

That night, the winds were up to 10 on the Beaufort scale, so it was very choppy.

From The Guardian

The reasons for the sinking were unclear: Winds on Saturday were a moderate 5 on the open-ended Beaufort scale.

From New York Times

Even the Beaufort scale, which measures wind speed, categorises it specifically in relation to its impact on objects.

From The Guardian

A heavy storm is a nine or a ten on the Beaufort scale, so the alarm sounds at Beaufort force 8.

From The New Yorker

Two years later, Francis Beaufort, a British naval officer frustrated by the idiosyncratic weather descriptions recorded at sea, proposed twelve standardized gradations of wind strength, from “calm” to “hurricane”: the Beaufort scale.

From The New Yorker