Gale
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A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between Template:Convert.<ref name="noaa_glossary">National Weather Service Glossary Template:Webarchive, s.v. "gale" Template:Webarchive.</ref> 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 Template:Convert, and maxima as high as Template:Convert. Through 1986, the National Hurricane Center used the term “gale” to refer to winds of Template:Clarify span for coastal areas between Template:Convert and Template:Convert. The Template:Convert definition is very non-standard. A common alternative definition of the maximum is Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The most common way of describing wind force is with the Beaufort scale<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> that defines a gale as wind from Template:Convert to Template:Convert. 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 "gale" designations whereas generally today there are two gale forces, 8 and 9, and a near gale 7:
| Wind force | Original name | Current name | km/h | m/s | mph | knots | Mean knots | Sea state |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Moderate gale | Near gale | 50–61 | 14–17 | 32–38 | 28–33 | 30 | Rough |
| 8 | Fresh gale | Gale | 62–74 | 17–20 | 39–46 | 34–40 | 37 | Very Rough |
| 9 | Strong gale | Severe Gale/ Strong Gale (UK) | 75–88 | 21–24 | 47–54 | 41–47 | 44 | High |
| 10 | Whole gale | Storm | 89–102 | 25–28 | 55–63 | 48–55 | 52 | Very High |
Etymology
The word gale is derived from the Middle English gale, a general word for wind of any strength, even a breeze. This word is probably of North Germanic origin, related to Icelandic gola (breeze) and Danish gal (furious, mad),<ref>Etymology of gale</ref> which are both from Old Norse gala (to sing), from Proto-Germanic *galaną (to roop, sing, charm), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (to shout, scream, charm away).