Wind force converter
Convert Beaufort force numbers to real wind speeds and back. The scale is not linear: each force covers a wider band than the last.
That's about the same as a strong breeze. That pushes with about 92.46 pascals against a flat wall.
What it means
How strong is that wind?
Beaufort numbers describe a band of speeds, not one value. The formula used here gives the middle of each band.
Every unit
Your wind in every unit
Learn
Three things worth knowing
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Force 6 is a strong breeze
Force 6 is about 12 m/s, or 44 km/h: umbrellas fail and large branches move. Force 12 begins at 32.7 m/s, hurricane strength.
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Written for sails, not instruments
Beaufort defined each force by how much sail a ship could carry. A sailor could report wind without owning a single instrument.
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Force is not proportional to speed
Force 10 is not twice force 5. It is 2.8 times the speed and nearly eight times the pressure on a wall.
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Background
About the Beaufort scale
Admiral Beaufort’s 1805 scale described what the sea looked like rather than how fast the air moved: force 3 ruffles the water, force 10 tears the tops off waves.
The modern formula is v = 0.836 × B^1.5 m/s, which is why the steps get bigger as the wind rises.