an international scale of wind velocities ranging for practical purposes from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane force). In the US an extension of the scale, from 13 to 17 for winds over 64 knots, is used
Word origin
C19: after Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), British admiral and hydrographer who devised it
Beaufort scale in American English
(ˈboʊfərt)
a scale of wind force and speed
Word origin
after Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857), Brit naval officer who devised the original scale (1806)