Storms at sea were usually noted in a ship's log. Some common storms noted were: Squall - A squall is a storm that comes up suddenly. It has an abrupt and large increase in wind speed that usually only lasts for minutes and then diminishes rather quickly. Tempest - A tempest is a violent windstorm that is usually accompanied by rain, hail or snow. Gale - A gale is a storm with very strong winds. Wind speeds in a gale range from 28-55 nautical miles per hour (32-63 mi/hr or 51-102 km/hr). Hurricane - A hurricane is a storm that has winds greater than those of a gale. They have winds speeds great than 64 knots/hr (118 mi/hr or 73 km/hr).