Graham, general Met Office usage defines a gale in terms of both mean speed
and gusts. Hence a severe gale is either mean speed 45kts, or gusts 52kt, if
memory serves me right. Hence gusts to severe gale force means gusts to
52kts. I doubt this is widely known. To confuse matters further, the Severe
Weather Warnings use a different limit, ie 70mph gusts for issue of warnings
of INLAND 'severe gales'...

What I REALLY hate is 'winds gusting to...' , and the constant use of the
present tense when giving a forecast. It is just about understandable when
the TV presenter is obviously describing a sequence of weather charts, but
on the radio it is confusing. I even heard a past tense used in a forecast
for 'tomorrow' a few days ago!

Weaman

"Graham Easterling" wrote in message
...
On 14 Jan, 18:59, "Jack )"

Like Norman the I hate the phrase 'gusts to gale force', on exposed
coasts gusts to gale force occur a good proportion of the days in
winter, so is totally meaningless. It just means it's a bit windy.