The Beaufort Scale

Abstract

I was particularly interested in Commander C. E. N. Frankcom's note on the Beaufort wind scale at the end of the article by the Hydrographer of the Navy on Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (this Journal, 11, 266).Commander Frankcom states that from time to time attempts have been made to abandon the Beaufort scale and adopt some other form of scale but that efforts to do this have failed. Efforts to improve on or change the form of the Beaufort scale are, in my opinion, likely to continue to fail for the very good reason that the existing scale is almost flawless mathematically.