In another posts someone asked questions concerning nautical terms. I don't
know if anyone has had this problem, but when I first started boating I
noticed that NOAA weather charts used knots for wind speed instead of mph.

Since I was not familiar with knots (and actually asked someone what a knot
per hour was), I wanted to know how windy "X knots" really was. I found
out that 1 knot = 1.15 mph, so 10 knots is equal to 11.5 mph. Since I can
not tell the difference between 10 mph or 11.5 mph or even 20 mph and 23 mph
(I will never intentionally go out in anything over 20 knots) in my mind a
knot and a mph were the exact same thing.

The question I have is, why does NOAA use knots on their weather charts
instead using mph? Is there a historical reason for this (i.e. that is the
way it has always been done) or a scientific reason for using knots?

For some reason I suspect Gould will field this question.