Cumulonimbus and aviation at this altitude, updraughts with speeds that can exceed . Such an updraught speed corresponds to the wind speed of a small hurricane. The speed can even exceed . The maximum number in the Beaufort scale is 12 ("hurricane force" wind) and is assigned to wind speeds of 64 knots or greater. If the Beaufort scale were extended, these updraughts would have a Beaufort number of 14 "in the vertical direction". The turbulence is then "extreme" at this altitude. Moreover, the diameters of the updraught columns vary between 2 km (air mass thunderstorm) and 10 km (supercell thunderstorm). The height
Wind speed Wind speed Wind speed, or wind flow velocity, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Note that wind direction is usually almost parallel to isobars (and not perpendicular, as one might expect), due to Earth's rotation. Wind speed affects weather forecasting, aviation and maritime operations, construction projects, growth and metabolism rate of many plant species, and countless other implications. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer, but can also be classified using the older Beaufort scale, which is based on personal observation of specifically defined