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Not quite. A knot is a measure of speed, not distance. A nautical mile and a knot are not the same thing.

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My ice boat tops out at 50 knots, which is considerably faster than 50 mph.

I understand a nm and a knot are not the same thing and that a knot is a mesure of speed and not distance. As a long time weather spotter for the NWS, I do know that the minimum criteria speed for wind to be "severe" in a severe thunderstorm is 50 knots, which is also the same as 58 mph. Obviously, distance is a part of how speed is calculated - thus, my less than perfect expression of 1 knot = 1.14 miles. I had original expressed this as 1 knot (per hour) = 1.14 miles (per hour), but resulting from a corrective comment made in a PM by another member here, I deleted the (per hour) notations shortly after my original post on this.

So since 50 knots = 58 mph, then it follows that 1 knot = 1.14 mph. I don't really desire to get into a technical discussion about this. My original "clarifying" post above was merely to try and express the various nm, sm, etc. in one common denominator (feet), to make it easier to understand.

CaT


If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.
- Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)