Judging a wind forecast
A 20-knot wind is about 23 mph, a brisk breeze in road-speed terms.
Use Knots to mph
Converts knots to miles per hour in this tab, with nothing sent anywhere.
Runs entirely on your deviceThe conversion happens in this browser tab. Nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored, which is worth knowing for anything you would not paste into a search box.
A forecast of 20 knots is about 23.02 mph. Marine forecasts may separately report gusts, wave height, and sustained wind; converting the speed does not turn those conditions into a road-driving risk assessment.
Explore general converters
Find related browser-local tools for nearby tasks without starting another search.
Browse all general convertersAbout Knots to mph
Knots measure speed at sea and in the air - nautical miles per hour - but to picture a boat speed or a wind speed the way a driver thinks, you convert to miles per hour. Converting knots to mph turns a marine or aviation figure into the familiar land unit. One knot is about 1.151 mph. The everyday case is weather: a coastal forecast gives wind in knots, and converting to mph tells you how it compares to a windy day on the road. It also helps when a boat's speed, quoted in knots, needs to be understood by someone used to car speeds - a fast boat at 30 knots is doing about 35 mph. Aircraft airspeeds, hurricane wind speeds and shipping speeds are all reported in knots, so translating to mph is how a general audience makes sense of them. Because a knot is about 1.15 mph, multiplying knots by roughly 1.15 gives a quick land-speed estimate. A knot expresses speed, not distance; do not treat a knot value as a count of nautical miles.
Using Knots to mph
- Type a number of kn. You can paste a value with its unit; the tool reads the number.
- The exact factor is applied and the result is shown as mph, updating live as you type.
- Copy the answer, or switch to the reverse converter to go from mph back to kn.
Where knots to mph helps
Both directions
Need the opposite? The mph-to-kn converter is linked below and uses the exact inverse factor.
A knot already means distance per hour
Knots express nautical miles per hour, so the result in mph is already a speed. Do not divide by 60 again unless you specifically need miles per minute. A vessel's speed through water and speed over ground may differ because of current, even when both readings are converted correctly.
Before you use the result
- The result is rounded for readability; the underlying factor is exact, so a value converted and back may differ in the last decimal place.
- Units in your input are ignored - only the number is read - so make sure the figure you type is really in kn.
Questions about Knots to mph
How fast is 10 knots in mph?
About 11.5 mph. A knot is a nautical mile per hour, which is roughly 1.15 statute miles per hour.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Knots to mph does the arithmetic in this browser tab; the value is calculated on your device and is not sent to a server.
Related tools
mph to Knots
Convert mph to knots instantly in your browser. Exact factor, both directions, nothing uploaded.