Beaufort Wind Force Scale – matching activity Here are the 13 levels of the Beaufort Scale, which can be printed and cut up, to use as cards to match up. For younger participants, you may wish to restrict them to just the lower end of the scale, to avoid having too many cards to sort. The levels have been grouped in this document into Force 0-7 and Force 8-12, for ease of printing. You may wish to print Force8-12 on a different colour card, so that it is easy to extract the higher levels and very quickly make the task a smaller one. There are 7 different types of information, although you may wish to keep the first three together (i.e. not cut them up), to make the task easier, or not include certain types:

 Force number  Speed  Description  Conditions at Sea and on Land  Diagram  Flag (for F0-F7 only)  Waves (for F0-F7 only)  The answer grid rubrics are also given, at the end of this file.

Diagrams credits: Stephen Pearce, National Maritime Museum; Howtoons.com; David Seidman “The Complete Sailor”

For the Word file, contact [email protected] , 1st Kilkenny Beaver Scouts

Admiral Francis Beaufort

 born in Navan, Co. Meath in 1774 – 240 years ago  invented the Beaufort Wind Force Scale for indicating wind speed 210 years ago  Royal Navy officer

 relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land  Scale goes from 0 (Calm) up to 12 (Hurricane)

Force Speed 0 knots Calm 0 0 km/h

Force Speed Light 2 knots Air 1 3 km/h

Force Speed Light 5 knots Breeze 2 9 km/h Force Speed Gentle 9 knots Breeze 3 15 km/h

Force Speed Moderate 13 knots Breeze 4 25 km/h

Force Speed Fresh 19 knots Breeze 5 35 km/h

Force Speed Strong 24 knots Breeze 6 45 km/h

Force Speed Moderate 30 knots Gale 7 56 km/h

 No wind SEA  Sea like a mirror

LAND  Smoke rises straight up

 ripples SEA  no foam crests

 direction of wind shown by smoke, but not by LAND wind vanes  smoke drifts gently

 small wavelets SEA  crests have glassy appearance

 wind felt on face LAND  leaves rustle  ordinary weather vane moved by wind

 large wavelets SEA  crests begin to break

LAND  leaves and small twigs on trees move

 small waves SEA  fairly frequent white horses

 dust and paper blows on the ground LAND  small branches move

 moderate waves SEA  many white horses are formed

 small trees start to sway LAND  wavelets form on inland waters

 large waves begin to form SEA  white foam crests are everywhere

LAND  large branches move

 sea heaps up SEA  white foam from breaking waves

 whole trees sway LAND  hard to walk  umbrellas discarded

Flag hangs limp Flag occasionally extends Flag snaps

Flag hangs limp Flag flaps Flag extended

Flag stirs Flag ripples

Flat Large wavelets Larger waves

Ripples Small waves Sea heaps up; white foam

Small wavelets Moderate waves

The following Force 8 to Force 12 descriptions could be printed on a different colour card, so that they could be included or left out, depending on the age and capabilities of the scouts completing the matching activity:

 moderate high waves SEA  edges of crests begin to break

 breaks twigs off trees LAND  very hard to walk

 high waves SEA  crests of waves begin to tumble

 branches break LAND  slight structural damage occurs  chimney pots and slates removed

 very high waves SEA  surface of sea takes on a white appearance

 trees blown down LAND  houses damaged

 exceptionally high waves SEA  sea covered with long white patches of foam

LAND  widespread damage

 huge waves; air filled with spray SEA  sea white horses with driving spray

LAND  countryside is devastated

Force Speed Fresh 37 knots Gale 8 68 km/h

Force Speed Strong 44 knots Gale 9 81 km/h

Force Speed 51 knots Storm 10 98 km/h

Force Speed Violent 59 knots Storm 11 110 km/h

Force Speed 19 knots Hurricane 12 118 km/h