An atmospheric gathering storm of a documentary exploring the extraordinary history of the Beaufort Scale - a system designed to help find language for the wind.

Sea like a mirror
Whistling heard in telegraph wires
Umbrellas used with difficulty...

In this programme we climb to the top of a lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides, labelled the windiest point in Britain by the Guinness Book of Records, and travel deep into the Met Office archives. With contributions from the writer Scott Huler, author of Defining the Wind; Ruairidh Macrae, the retained lighthouse keeper for the Butt of Lewis and Eilean Glas lighthouses in the Outer Hebrides; Catherine Ross, the library and archive manager at the Met Office; and John Morales, a hurricane specialist and meteorologist with 40 years experience in the field.

The Beaufort scale is read by Charlotte Green
Original music composed by Jeremy Warmsley, with additional music by Eleanor McDowall
Mix by Mike Woolley

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4