The Beaufort Scale in Arboriculture

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THE BEAUFORT SCALE AS A TOOL IN TREE RISK MANAGEMENT The Beaufort Scale was originally developed for the Royal Navy in 1805 (by one captain Francis Beaufort) and was adapted for use by ‘land‐based observers’ in 1906. As can be seen from the descriptions in Table 1, the land version relies on the behaviour of trees under wind action (instead of on waves), such that, at higher wind speeds, the observations define failure thresholds. The UK Meteorological Office uses the land version of the Beaufort Scale in issuing severe weather warnings to predict the likely level of damage from forecasted high winds. Thus the Beaufort Scale can be used to identify a measure of foreseeability of tree failure. Beaufort Scale, Specification on Land Beaufort Speed Description Specification on land Force Knots km/h mph Smoke rises vertically Less than Less than 0 Calm Less than 1 1 1 Direction of wind shown by smoke drift 1 Very Light 1 ‐ 3 1 ‐ 5 1 ‐ 3 but not by wind vanes Wind felt on face, leaves rustle, ordinary 2 Light breeze 4 ‐ 6 6 ‐ 11 4 ‐ 7 wind vane moved by wind Gentle Leaves and small twigs in constant motion, 3 7 ‐ 10 12 ‐ 19 8 ‐ 12 breeze wind extends white flag Moderate Wind raises dust and loose paper, small 4 11 ‐ 16 20 ‐29 13 ‐ 18 breeze branches move Small trees in leaf start to sway, crested 5 Fresh breeze 17 ‐ 21 30 39 19 ‐ 24 wavelets on inland waters Large branches in motion, whistling in Strong 6 telegraph wires, umbrellas used with 22 ‐ 27 40 ‐ 50 25 ‐ 31 breeze difficulty Whole trees in motion, inconvenient to 7 Near gale 28 ‐ 33 51 ‐ 61 32 ‐ 38 walk against wind Twigs break from trees, difficult to walk 8 Gale 34 ‐ 40 62 ‐ 74 39 ‐ 46 Slight structural damage occurs, chimney 9 Strong gale pots and slates removed, branches break 41 ‐ 47 75 ‐ 87 47 ‐ 54 from trees Trees uprooted, considerable structural 10 Storm 48 ‐ 55 88 ‐ 101 55 ‐ 63 damage occurs Violent Widespread damage 11 56 ‐ 63 102 ‐ 117 64 ‐ 73 storm 12 Hurricane Widespread damage >64 >119 >74 .

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