About a year ago, I took this video along the Hudson river in NY, and I'm trying to figure out the Beaufort number based on the water and the flags.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqjvTALRWW8
The problem is that the Beaufort scale is based primarily on open sea waters (not protected/inland waters like the Hudson river). The only mention in the scale relating to inland waters is force 5 ("crested wavelets (whitecaps) form on inland waters") - but nothing related to the higher force numbers.
In this video, there are definitely lots of whitecaps, which leads me to believe that the wind was force 5 or higher. Possibly even a 6.
Flags are another indicator; but here it is kind of vague. At force 5, flags start rippling and flapping hard, and as the wind gets stronger, they start beating/snapping, until finally they are fully extended with only the very end flapping (force 7). So looking at the flag in the video makes me think it's a 6.
What steady force/speed is the wind really blowing here? What about gusts?