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Beaufort's Notation
Fri Aug 13, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
We recognize the name Francis Beaufort today for the wind scale he introduced in
1838. But five years before, he had also developed a shorthand for weather
observations that became the forerunner for many modern weather codes. Hi, I’m
Bryan Yeaton, and this is The Weather Notebook.
While commanding his own ships from 1805 to 1812, Beaufort kept weather
observations as part of his routine, ultimately increasing their frequency to every two
hours. To describe the weather accurately but briefly, he devised a simple notation
system, consisting of the number from his Wind Force Scale, and a series of one to
three alphabetic symbols that described the state of the atmosphere. For example: "b"
indicated blue sky; "q" signified wind squalls; "r" stood for rain; and "t" for thunder.
Between 1806 and 1832, Beaufort further refined his original coding scheme, as when
he changed "f" as the symbol for "fine weather" to "fog."
With slight alterations, "Beaufort’s Weather Notation" was adopted by the British Navy
in 1833. It became standard practice to record weather conditions at a particular time
in the following order: State of Sky; Thunderstorm if present; Precipitation type and
character if present; Atmospheric obscurity such as fog; and other weather
phenomena.
Robert FitzRoy, the father of the British meteorological service, used Beaufort’s
notation throughout his naval career, including his years as commander of HMS
Beagle, whose initial voyages had been commissioned by Beaufort, then hydrographer
to the Admiralty.
Nearly a century later, an international conference meeting in Warsaw officially
approved a form of the Beaufort notation for the international exchange of weather
observations. Today, we use a very similar system, although numbers have replaced
letters in many categories.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. The Weather Notebook
receives funding from the National Science Foundation and Subaru of America. We are
a program of the Mount Washington Observatory, online at www.mountwashington.org.
Today's Links
The Weather Legacy of Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/beaufort.htm
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