Measuring Wind Strength

Hello,

Is there a simple, small, reasonably priced gadget that one can use to measure the wind strength.
If so, where can one get them........
 
I second the Dwyer instrument. My son and I have a couple of them, one in the kite bag and one in the boat shed. Very nice units, and apparently indestructable.
 
I use two simple rules of thumb:

1. White caps start at 12 - 14 knots. It is 95% accurate (things like strong current can alter it).
2. The wind leaves parallel "lines" in the water at 20 knots.

From those two observations, I can deduce 5 to 11, 12 - 15, 15 - 20, 20 and above.

And that's good enough.

Or, you could go buy some stuff that will give you 5% better results.
 
Paxfish is correct, but the observations fail (or are hard for the in-experienced) when the breeze is offshore and on small bodies of water (ie lakes/rivers) and a little hard to do when there is no water around to cue off of. You can also use flags and depending on where you are located, other peoples personal weather stations via the internet (I like www.weatherunderground.com for this)

I left out another possibility if you have and Iphone or Android based phone - there are a couple apps that use the mic and do a decent job as well. The Iphone vers is 99 cents.. http://goingapps.com/default.aspx
Android a little more
http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/weather/wind-meter-anemometer_tkfn.html
 
Search the internet to see if there are any publicly available anaemometers nearby; we have two here and they are mounted in clear air. They give 10 minute interval average and peak wind strengths and mean direction with maximum veer and backing.
 

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