Beaufort scale

A scale used to measure wind intensity, which establishes a numerical division into thirteen grades or forces - from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane-force storm) -, associating each category with a given range of wind speeds, the appearance of the sea surface, and the effects observed on land. The scale was created around 1805 by the Irish sailor and hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) and was initially conceived only for naval use, without including wind speeds at that time. It was in the mid-19th century that the speed values corresponding to each number on the scale were incorporated. Finally, in the early 20th century, the then-director of the British Meteorological Office, Sir George C. Simpson (1878-1965), introduced descriptions of the effects of wind on land into it.