Beaufort Scale
The international scale used to describe
wind speed.
Devised by
Sir Francis Beaufort, a British admiral of the time of
Nelson. It rates winds from
calm to
hurricane - "that which no canvas could withstand" as
Beaufort originally put it.
For official readings,
measurements are taken at 32.8ft (10m) above the ground where
speeds will be considerably more than at ground level. When a
meteorological report says that a
wind is something like "
Gale Force 9", it is the Beaufort scale to which it refers.
To suppliment CentrX's scale above, here is a verbose description of the numbers on the scale:
0: Calm, smoke rises vertically.
1: Wind direction shown by smoke, but not flags.
2: Wind felt on face, leaves whisper, flags move.
3: Leaves and thin twigs move, pennants extended fully.
4: Paper and dust lifted, twigs and thin branches move.
5: Small trees in leaf begin to sway, white horses on lakes.
6: Thicker branches move, whistling in telephone lines, umbrellas difficult to use.
7: Whole trees moving, resistance to movement against wind perceptible.
8: Twigs broken from trees, movement in open difficult.
9: Minor damage to houses (awnings and TV antennas)
10: Trees uprooted, major damage to houses.
11: Widespread damage.
12: Severe destruction.