Beaufort Wind Scale Calculator (Force 0–12)
Enter a wind speed and its unit (m/s, km/h, mph or knots); the tool maps it to Beaufort force 0–12 using the WMO standard cut-offs, returning the named description (calm, fresh breeze, gale, hurricane…), the official sea-state observation, the matching land-condition description and the wind speed in all four common units. The international shorthand used by sailors, surfers, hikers, drone pilots and outdoor-activity planners.
Enter a non-negative wind speed (max 500).
Beaufort force
7
High wind / Near gale
Sea state (WMO)
Sea heaps up; white foam from breaking waves blown in streaks along wind.
Land condition
Whole trees in motion; walking against the wind is difficult.
m/s
17.9
km/h
64.4
mph
40.0
knots
34.8
Formula
The Beaufort force B is set by the 10-minute average wind speed v measured at 10 m above ground. The official WMO method is a look-up table; the standard analytic approximation is B = (v ⁄ 0.836)^(2/3) with v in m/s, rounded to the nearest integer to give a force from 0 to 12.
- · This tool uses the official WMO lower-bound cut-offs in m/s (0.3 / 1.6 / 3.4 / 5.5 / 8.0 / 10.8 / 13.9 / 17.2 / 20.8 / 24.5 / 28.5 / 32.7 m/s), identical to the tables published by the UK Met Office and US National Weather Service.
- · Unit conversions used: 1 m/s = 3.6 km/h = 2.2369 mph = 1.9438 knots; 1 knot = 0.5144 m/s. All four values are shown alongside the force.
- · The definition is 10-minute mean wind speed measured at 10 m above ground. Instantaneous gusts are typically 30 – 50 % higher and should not be plugged in directly.
- · Tropical cyclone overlap: Beaufort 12 starts at 32.7 m/s; Saffir–Simpson Category 1 hurricanes start at 33 m/s (74 mph). The two systems are close at the bottom but are distinct standards above.
- · The scale was devised in 1805 by Royal Navy admiral Francis Beaufort, adopted internationally in 1853, and standardised by the WMO in 1946 with sea and land descriptors. (An extended 13–17 scale exists for super-typhoons, but only 0–12 is the WMO standard used here.)
- · For everyday outdoor planning: Force ≤ 3 is comfortable; Force 4 – 5 is brisk; Force 6 makes umbrellas useless; Force 7 makes walking against the wind hard; Force 8 + halts most outdoor activity.
Frequently asked
Does the Beaufort scale use gusts or average wind speed?
The official definition uses the 10-minute mean wind speed at 10 m above ground — not instantaneous gusts. Gusts are typically 30 – 50 % above the 10-minute mean, so plugging a gust reading straight in over-estimates the force. If your data is a peak-gust value (some handheld anemometers and drones report this), divide by roughly 1.3 – 1.5 to approximate the average. Hong Kong Observatory, the UK Met Office and US NWS report 10-minute means; the US National Hurricane Center uses 1-minute sustained wind, so NHC numbers run slightly higher than WMO-style reports for the same storm.
Why keep a 200-year-old scale instead of just using km/h?
Beaufort's value is not precision; it is *observability* and *communication*. It maps a continuous wind speed into 13 discrete levels, each tied to visible sea features (whitecaps, foam streaks, spray) and land features (leaves, twigs, whole trees) so an observer with no anemometer can still classify the wind on sight. Working mariners still speak in Beaufort because "Force 6 strong breeze" packs a complete scene — umbrellas useless, foam crests everywhere — that "39 – 49 km/h" doesn't convey. Modern precision forecasting of course still uses km/h or knots; the two coexist rather than replace each other.
How does Beaufort line up with the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale?
Beaufort caps at force 12 — exactly at the threshold of a Saffir–Simpson Category 1 hurricane (≥ 32.7 m/s ≈ 64 knots ≈ 74 mph). Beyond that, Saffir–Simpson keeps subdividing (Cat 2 – 5) but Beaufort stays at 12. The two systems also use different averaging windows: Beaufort uses a 10-minute mean (WMO), Saffir–Simpson uses a 1-minute sustained wind (US NHC) which runs ~ 12 % higher for the same storm. So a Cat 3 hurricane in NHC reports is "still force 12" in WMO Beaufort, and the numeric values cannot be directly mapped. China/Hong Kong tropical-cyclone categories use yet another averaging (2-minute mean), differing again from NHC.
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