Gale


A gale is a strong wind, typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are expected. In the United States, a gale warning is specifically a maritime warning; the land-based equivalent in National Weather Service warning products is a wind advisory.
Other sources use minima as low as, and maxima as high as. Through 1986, the National Hurricane Center used the term gale to refer to winds of tropical force for coastal areas, between and. The definition is very non-standard. A common alternative definition of the maximum is.
The most common way of measuring wind force is with the Beaufort scale which defines a gale as wind from to. It is an empirical measure for describing wind speed based mainly on observed sea conditions. On the original 1810 Beaufort wind force scale, there were four different "gale" designations whereas generally today there are two gale forces, 8 and 9, and a near gale 7:
Wind forceOriginal nameCurrent namekm/hm/smphknotsMean knotsSea state
7Moderate galeNear gale50–6114–1732–3828–3330Rough–Very rough
8Fresh galeGale62–7417–2039–4634–4037Very rough–High
9Strong galeSevere gale75–8821–2447–5441–4744High
10Whole galeStorm89–10225–2855–6348–5552Very High

The word gale is derived from the older gail, but its origin is uncertain.