Stanley to Archangel, and all points in between | Old Weather Captains care about the air pressure because it warns them of changes in the wind. This sort of plot isn’t ideal for showing winds, because the wind measurements are restricted to the Beaufort scale categories, but we can still see where the strong winds are to be found. Cruising in the North Atlantic, the Royal Navy’s main stamping ground, was clearly no picnic: with temperatures down to freezing, variable weather and strong winds. The Beaufort scale only goes up to 12; extensions are sometimes used for severe tropical storms, but the value of 15recorded by HMS Cambrian in Rosyth dockyard in March 1919 is not credible. (Though I congratulate captain MamaLizard and the crew on correctly entering the value in the log – we always want the value written, even when it’s obviously an error). If we disregard the Cambrian’s exaggerations, there are four reports of wind force 12 so far, but they are all typographical errors – it’s not much of a slip of the pen to turn ‘1-2′ into ‘12′. We’re still waiting for our first real hurricane. Click for high-res photo

Stanley to Archangel, and all points in between | Old Weather

Captains care about the air pressure because it warns them of changes in the wind. This sort of plot isn’t ideal for showing winds, because the wind measurements are restricted to the Beaufort scale categories, but we can still see where the strong winds are to be found. Cruising in the North Atlantic, the Royal Navy’s main stamping ground, was clearly no picnic: with temperatures down to freezing, variable weather and strong winds.

The Beaufort scale only goes up to 12; extensions are sometimes used for severe tropical storms, but the value of 15recorded by HMS Cambrian in Rosyth dockyard in March 1919 is not credible. (Though I congratulate captain MamaLizard and the crew on correctly entering the value in the log – we always want the value written, even when it’s obviously an error). If we disregard the Cambrian’s exaggerations, there are four reports of wind force 12 so far, but they are all typographical errors – it’s not much of a slip of the pen to turn ‘1-2′ into ‘12′. We’re still waiting for our first real hurricane.

Notes