by windwatcher2 on Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:34 pm
I love windy upskirts and recently discovered this forum as well as a couple of others. Also, as a former 'A' Level Geography student, I'm fascinated by all the interest in the wind and it's effects and hope I can offer you all some advice.
Without wanting to baffle anyone with science, the wind is a by-product of uneven heating of the Earth's atmosphere by the sun, and has a very complex distribution pattern. Though widely spread, winds are most prevalent along coasts, at higher elevations and at higher latitudes. It is measured by what we call the Beaufort Scale, which is basically what is meant when referring to 'Gale Force 9 / 10' etc... (yawn!)
Just to assist anyone whose interested, the scale classes wind speeds of 13-18mph (moderate breeze) will cause, according to the Met Office 'Dust and loose paper to be raised. Small branches begin to move'.
Speeds of 19-24mph (fresh breeze) are likely to cause small trees/small branches on large trees to sway. A 20+mph gust would undoubtedly cause the wearer of a short, flimsy skirt a certain amount of embarrassment!
As we get towards 25-31mph winds, we are starting to get into the realms of 'Strong breeze - Large branches sway in motion. Umbrella use becomes difficult.' We've all had a Mary Poppins moment with an umbrella no doubt, so I imagine even a knee length skirt starts to cause the wearer a problem if it either flares out or is pleated.
At 32-38mph, we are approching near-gale conditions, where walking becomes difficult. Basically, the short-flared skirted girls will suffer serious humiliation.
As Michael Fish once found to his cost, predicting the wind can be a tricky business, so just because one TV station has your area as 10mph winds, another may have 20mph. If your analysing what skirt to wear, or planning to go out and watch girls struggle in the wind with their skirts, it's worth looking at a few forecasts and then checking yourself to see how windy it is!