whole gale? Half a gale?

[grendy]

Roger Taylor, in his excellent "Mingming" book refers to the wind force as "a whole gale" or "half a gale".

Does anyone know what these terms denote? I've consulted Professor Google but it's a bit vague and the answers seem to be anywhere between F6 - F10.

[Woodlouse]

A whole gale is a F8.

Given that the effects of wind is exponential I'd have said half a gale would be a F6 or so.

[Simondjuk]

I'd tend to agree with that.

Of course, strictly speaking, a F6 is merely a strong breeze, a F8 a gale and a F9 a severe gale. How one interprets them in practice, however, rather depends on the extent of one's LWL and experience.

[stephenh]

Just to confuse the issue, I seem to remember an F7 referred to as a ' Yachtsman's gale ' .

Don't hear the phrase much these days though...........

[nathanlee]

I use the Nathan scale to simplify things.

N1: Yay, this is fun
N2: Don't like this
N3: Bugger.

[Tmacd]

I use the Nathan scale to simplify things.

N1: Yay, this is fun
N2: Don't like this
N3: Bugger.

I like that! Simplicity appeals to my brain!

[BlowingOldBoots]

Roger Taylor, in his excellent "Mingming" book refers to the wind force as "a whole gale" or "half a gale".

Does anyone know what these terms denote? I've consulted Professor Google but it's a bit vague and the answers seem to be anywhere between F6 - F10.

The link below is from the UK Meterological Office who have produced a fact sheet on the history of the Beaufort Scale. The term half gale doesn't appear in the history. However, Force 7 is a "near gale", was once called a "moderate gale". There are lots of other gale terms as well: -

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pd...fort_Scale.pdf

The term half gale doesn't appear in this history but I would assume it was a Force 7. There appears to be a lot of descriptions around this wind speed which is getting towards brown pants territory. Why settle for a wipe out in a Strong Breeze, when a Half Gale sounds like a better excuse. Based on nothing more than avoiding embarrassing explanations at the club bar, I think Woodlouse probably is right, the F6 (which I believe is the Yachtsmans's gale) is the half gale of legend.

[onesea]

Half a Gale I would of put as F7.

If I HAD TO put a number on it.

Other wise its probably N2-N3

The winds your out in and really did not plan on being out there in...

[Flashy]

I've heard F6 referred to as a Fisherman's gale, and F7 as the Yachtsman's gale. Good thing we've got some numbers to keep things consistent.

[RichardS]

Just to confuse the issue, I seem to remember an F7 referred to as a ' Yachtsman's gale ' .

Don't hear the phrase much these days though...........

I though that was an F6 - hold on I'll Google it.

Yep, Google seems to think it's an F6 as well.

Richard