Beaufort, Isère In 2012 the commune had 999 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger communes that have a sample survey every year. Beaufort, Isère Beaufort is a commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as "Beaufortois" or "Beaufortoises". Beaufort is located some 50 km north-east of Grenoble and 8 km east of Beaurepaire. Access to the
Beaufort scale during the voyage of HMS "Beagle" under Captain Robert FitzRoy, later to set up the first Meteorological Office (Met Office) in Britain giving regular weather forecasts. In the early 19th century, naval officers made regular weather observations, but there was no standard scale and so they could be very subjective – one man's "stiff breeze" might be another's "soft breeze". Beaufort succeeded in standardising the scale. The initial scale of thirteen classes (zero to twelve) did not reference wind speed numbers but related qualitative wind conditions to effects on the sails of a frigate, then the main ship of the