28 August 2011

East 19 gusting to 26 knots per NOAA


Being a nautically minded individual I think in knots - you know nautical miles per hour. For full disclosure one nautical mile = 1.15 statute miles - but more importantly 1 nautical mile is equal to 1 minute of latitude - which makes it a very handy tool when plotting on a chart. So - my rant -  why does NOAA list wind speed in mph and km/h ? why not knots? Many (most? all?) of the people listening to NOAA weather broadcasts are on the seas - and so thinking in knots... but instead start saying to themselves...well this wind speed looks like Force 5 - let me convert Beaufort to mph to see if my estimate agrees with NOAA...  wouldn't everyone just be happier thinking in knots? So - the wind speed in the title has been converted to knots - but I would propose that NOAA was under-estimating the wind speed as witnessed in this video. 

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