Beaufort wind force scale
Escala de Beaufort de fuerza del viento
- Date
- 1805 · confidence high
- Place
- Admiralty, London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Francis Beaufort
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A 0-12 scale classifying wind by its effects on the sea and by the sail a ship of the line can carry. It replaced subjective descriptions in logbooks and the Royal Navy adopted it officially in 1838.
Beaufort devised it in 1805 as an officer of HMS Woolwich; the version with land equivalents and speeds in knots is later (1906 and 1946). The place given is that of its official adoption.
What it led to
- standardised marine weather reports
- the modern scale with speeds in knots
- Admiralty weather forecasts (FitzRoy)