The October 1987 storm had sustained winds exceeding 74 mph in southeast England for more than one hour. The Beaufort scale refers to sustained wind speeds only, not to gusts, which can generally approach about one and a half times the sustained wind speed in Atlantic depressions. Force 12 on the Beaufort scale requires sustained average wind speeds of over 73mph, traditionally for an hour, though that aspect, along with other aspects of the Beaufort scale, is a bit of a moveable feast. It's intended to be useful in practice rather than too definitive. To be useful, a gale warning needs to refer to potential violent gusts (e.g., "occasionally violent storm 11") as well as sustained wind speeds. In that regard, the1987 storm produced hurricane-force winds over limited areas. Sustained winds of force 12 are the minimum requirement for a tropical storm to be called a hurricane and that equates to a Category 1 hurricane. Real hurricanes are not any old storm with hurricane-force winds. Real hurricanes are born in the tropics only and are closed systems not associated with major frontal areas. They derive their energy in a very different way from Atlantic depressions. Another difference is that hurricanes usually have organised thunderstorm systems and produce much more rainfall in a very short time than frontal depressions. So it's incorrect to say that we had a hurricane in 1987, but fine to say we had hurricane-force winds. Especially if you're a scientist.   Anyone reading this in Texas must be wondering how come we made such a fuss.