Ever heard of the Beaufort Scale?

[Preytorien]

I'm a cyclist, and I'm a fisherman, and I'm a fisherman who uses a kayak. For me, the wind is a huge factor in every activity I do. Up until recently I only really paid attention to the wind speed in mph. I saw in an online forum for cyclists a mention of a unit of measurement called Beauforts. I did some research and it was really interesting. Turns out it's been around quite a while, used fairly frequently by watercraft in the military. 

 

Through reading a lot of information about it, looking at charts and such, it seems in a nutshell that the Beaufort Scale is a measure of the actual force of the wind, rather than it's speed. It's a good measurement of how strong a given wind actually feels. Obviously the wind speed affects the force, but it offers a more digestible value to wind so we can better make assumptions. 

 

For me as an outdoor enthusiast, it's not always easy to look at a weather forecast and make a good assumption of the wind based on just a mile-per-hour reading, that's where I have begun to turn towards looking at the Beaufort forecast, as it will tell me a bit more accurately how strong the force of the wind is, and how that will relate to my given activity that day. 

 

I'm sure there's much more to understand about it, my currently knowledge level is rudimentary and still evolving, any input from the experts on here would be an excellent read. 

 

What's your thoughts?

 

[fishnkamp]

Someone has their head up their ass!  No way "8-12 mph is a gentle breeze.  Also no way I would call 13 to 18 mph "moderate". I have fished in winds like that often but here on the Chesapeake Bay we would not call them what they call them.

[RPreeb]

The Beaufort scale has been around for a long time.

 

The descriptions sound about right to me.  8-12 mph is the equivalent of a calm day around here.  When I lived in the Bahamas, it was a rare day that we didn't have at least a 10 mph breeze.  I don't even usually take notice of it until it hits about 15-20 mph.  It's not windy until the patio furniture starts to migrate toward the neighbor's yard. 

 

 

[jbmaine]

6 hours ago, fishnkamp said:

Someone has their head up their ass!  No way "8-12 mph is a gentle breeze.  Also no way I would call 13 to 18 mph "moderate". I have fished in winds like that often but here on the Chesapeake Bay we would not call them what they call them.

My understanding is the Beaufort scale was conceived long before most recreational boating took place. What we think of as a " gale " in our small boats is nothing to a freighter in the mid Atlantic.

[A-Jay]

7 hours ago, fishnkamp said:

Someone has their head up their ass!  No way "8-12 mph is a gentle breeze.  Also no way I would call 13 to 18 mph "moderate". I have fished in winds like that often but here on the Chesapeake Bay we would not call them what they call them.

 

On big water, and in a vessel designed to be there, things don't even get interesting until around #7.

A-Jay

[slonezp]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 

On big water, and in a vessel designed to be there, things don't even get interesting until around #7.

A-Jay

Exactly. It's relative to the water at hand.