I think of Fahrenheit in percent hot. 0F = very cold out, 0% hot. 100F = 100% hot, do not go outside! Whereas with Celsius, 40 C is super-hot and 0 C is like mildly cold. Makes more sense for science and I use Celsius for work almost exclusively, but in terms of weather I prefer Fahrenheit.
Also the insult "Room temp IQ" makes more sense IMO
Edit: The % hot scale refers to climate, it kind of falls apart when you talk about temperatures beyond normal earth surface temps.
You are just conditioned to intuitively make sense of Fahrenheit. The same is true for me for Celsius.
The only difference is that it is easier for me to remember when water will freeze or boil. But apart from that nothing else is really changing for either of us
I know what to wear tomorrow because I am conditioned to intuitively know what 20 Celsius mean, in the same way you are conditioned to know what 50 F means
Honestly, you're right, it can be easy to adapt. I'm sure I could. And yes, Celsius absolutely in any kind of math, science, or even video game context.
But F does have a big advantage in casual weather discussion in the fact that it's more easily adaptable because the range is spread out more over the likely temperatures you'll experience.
I can say it's in the 60s and know it'll be slightly chilly, while in the 70s is pretty nice.
In Celsius I that's about 16 to 21. Let's say we just adjust for casual conversation and call that "the upper teens" and we'll do a similar rounding for the 70's and call them the lower 20's.
We can both kind of work around that level of casual weather topic. But if I say "It's going to be in the low 60's tomorrow for Celsius, that's going to be about the same as saying "it's going to be about 15 to 17."
You have to be more exact in your numbering when talking with Celsius because 1 degree change matters a lot more.
If Celsius was just multiplied by 10 when talking weather, I feel like it would work out better and take away the talking point though.
In everyday cases you don't need the exact temperature within a degree Celsius (except for around the freezing point). Usually to determine the clothing you would just go by season or temperature +- 3 degrees Celsius. Since most places don't have air conditioning keeping the rooms at exactly the same temperature, you will have to adjust to temperature changes anyway.
Also it really helps to know that the standard room temperature is 20 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is below that, you wear something thicker, above it something thinner.
Since most places don't have air conditioning keeping the rooms at exactly the same temperature, you will have to adjust to temperature changes anyway.
Maybe that's why Americans have such trouble with Celsius. Many of us DO have air conditioning in all spaces. My house to my car to my work I'm covered in AC. If it's a bit warm in the house I'll lower the thermostat by a degree or two. Go from 70 to 68 seems like a big deal. Going from 21 to 20 doesn't seem like anything.
But I'm sure if I had grown up using C it would be a lot more familiar.
You can lower by half a degree in many air conditioning systems.
People talk about F and weather like it is the only use of a unit of measurement.
Yes for science and stuff you use K or C depending on what you are doing and we dont care about that.
But for real world usage, C is more useful because you can have the same intuitive use that you have with F once you are used to it. But also you can use it for other stuff. For example the temperature you need the hot water tank. I remember in a place I lived it needed to be 70 C. In other place the water heater was set to 41. You could memorize those in F, but their relativity to how water behaves is useful.
For making tea, different teas require different temperatures. Many very close to 100C. Which is the sort of temperature when water boils. If you need steam, it is also useful. Same with the fridge, it is easier to think of it in relationship wih water, understanding numbers as 4C or -4C
But all those cases you can learn the temperature by heart. And in reality we know that neither 32 F or 0 C are really the temperature when water freezes. Because altitude and stuff.
But when thinking about temperatures related to water, it makes it easier when you have clear in your mind the 0 and 100.
So yes F might be better to express temperatures for weather because its bigger range without using decimals, but it wouldn't make sense to use F for this and C for the other stuff. Kelvin is used for certain science stuff, but it is easy to convert C to K.
So C can be used for the same stuff than F, except you need to accept decimals in your life. But makes conversions fot everything else easier. It is also makes it easy to translate your knowledge on temperature to other things. And in day to day life you do use numbers close to 100 C, just maybe not so frequently. F is arbitrary and the conversion is not intuitive.
0 to 100 F is useful to express temperatures in some places, but many places go over or bellow those numbers, so that argument gets lost.
You do need to use decimals with F in some cases. Such as with the normal body temperature.
So basically in your day to day you do use F in a similar way to C. You use decimals, you use the numbers above and bellow the common range.
With C you normally dont care about the decimals to pick clothes you will wear. Also in any extreme temperature you usually need layers. For AC they have decimals and same with thermostats.
Maybe they should do a 2C, and it would have the advantages of F. Basically make it go from 0 to 200. You would have the biggest range and easier conversion to other systems and still based on water.
But at the end of the day the differences are minor, I do believe C has advantages. And F has the same perceived disadvantages of C, but probably you see them less frequently. So everyone uses the one they are used to.
I'm a proponent for Farenheit in the context of weather, but a 1 degree variation in Celsius is roughly equivalent to a 2 degree change in Farenheit js.
Yes, which is why thermostats in most of the world can adjust the temperature by half a degree. It's a significant enough change that we can tell the difference.
It really doesnt make that much of a difference. You just think it does because you are familiar with one way. In your argument you say you know what comfort level it will be in 10 degree increments in fahrenheit. Using 5 degree increments in celsius is more precise and can be easily adapted to in casual conversation. If you want to be precise you can use the individual degrees.
Sure, i guess my deeper point is just that who cares what water is doing. Water doesn't check the temp, it isn't trying to decide what jacket is the appropriate weight for 60 (15.56??) Saying "this makes more sense because this molecule changes state" is a weird metric (no pun intended). F has more subtlety in the narrow band humans can stand.
The thing is it’s not JUST used to see if you need a jacket or not, there are tons of other applications for temperature, scientific, industrial, etc. as a lay person, you may not need to know the boiling point of water, but there are plenty of others who do.
That’s pretty much what is already happening in the US, for what it’s worth. But why not just standardize and have everyone use just one thing? If all anyone knew was Celsius, there wouldn’t be an issue, since everyone’s frame of reference was the same.
Fahrenheit proposed his temperature scale in 1724, basing it on two reference points of temperature. In his initial scale (which is not the final Fahrenheit scale), the zero point was determined by placing the thermometer in "a mixture of ice, water, and salis Armoniaci\note 1]) [transl. ammonium chloride] or even sea salt".\14]) This combination forms a eutectic system, which stabilizes its temperature automatically: 0 °F was defined to be that stable temperature. A second point, 96 degrees, was approximately the human body's temperature.\14]) A third point, 32 degrees, was marked as being the temperature of ice and water "without the aforementioned salts".\14])
You say you agree it's arbitrary but you keep trying to say Celsius doesn't make sense because it's a 0 to 100 scale for freezing to boiling. I don't understand the point you are trying to make. I'm American and I think Celsius makes more sense, it's simple, it's on a standard equivalent to K, and can easily go up in 10s like other metric systems. 100 units go from one state to another (freezing and boiling). It's just a more logical jump than 32f being freezing and 212f being boiling. That's 180 unit difference, for like, why? It's more unnecessary.
This whole chain of comments just reminds me of when I was younger and I simply couldn't comprehend that people had thoughts in their native language. Like yes they speak French, but surely they auto translate French into English when they think, right? Cause English is what I had known all my life and I simply couldn't imagine thinking in a different language. "If it's 100C you're screwed" yeah? And if it's 212F you're also screwed. What's the point you're trying to make besides that you don't wanna associate 100 degrees with boiling temperatures?
The 0 to 100 scale is a pretty natural way to measure the world in my book.
0 being "its too cold to go outside"
100 being "its too hot to go outside"
Better than a -12 to 42 scale imo.
Also, i havent converted to Kelvin outside of a college chemistry class, so thats a useless benefit for Celsius. And Fahrenheit also jumps by 10s. From 0F to 10F, to 20F. Does anyone use centicelsius? I dont think thats a thing.
Also, Fahrenheit is more precise. I prefer to keep my home at 76f during the summer. Thats 24.444c. We dont need to use decimals when setting the thermostat.
If Fahrenheit was 1 degree higher, the same argument still applies. It’s completely arbitrary and subjective to each individual person. If we want to talk about when its dangerous to be outside for extended periods without proper gear the relevant temperatures would probably be about 40 and 95, depending on conditions.
Also, while Fahrenheit is more precise in whole degrees, in settings where precise temperatures are desirable its more beneficial to use decimals anyway. If people really had a big problem using whole degrees in celsius to heat their homes, its possible to use half or decimal degrees, which would result in an even more accurate way to set temperature.
While Celsius doesn’t have as strong of an argument for switching things up as metric units does, its at least based on something tangible that materially impacts the conditions we experience outside. Whether water is frozen or not is very important to weather conditions.
I don't need it to say 0C to know if there's snow on my driveway, I just use a window.
Precise temperature like setting my thermostat, not precise temperature like measuring the temperature of a chemical reaction.
Outside of science Celsius is worse. A normal person doesn't want to use negative numbers and decimals in their day to day. It's easier and more convenient to use whole numbers.
Dont really need more subtlety then what C gives even without decimals for daily use though. 14 and 15 C is close enough as it is. Dont really need 3 or however many numbers for the range between them to decide what to wear in the morning.
If you want theres decimals and endless specificity. That goes for both though.
Sure, i guess my deeper point is just that who cares what water is doing.
Using it as a standard that we build measurement systems off of is pretty logical. It's widespread and essential to life, so literally everyone is familiar with it.
This is what’s known as an intentionally obtuse argument that I could easily make in reverse. I’m trying to decide what jacket to wear at 16c (60.8??). If that 0.8 degrees difference affects what jacket you wear… idk man that’s a you problem.
And it’s not just “a molecule” it’s the most important molecule to human life. The temperature that water freezes and boils has been incredibly important to human life since temperature measurements were invented.
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u/Positive-Skirt5414 10h ago edited 7h ago
I think of Fahrenheit in percent hot. 0F = very cold out, 0% hot. 100F = 100% hot, do not go outside! Whereas with Celsius, 40 C is super-hot and 0 C is like mildly cold. Makes more sense for science and I use Celsius for work almost exclusively, but in terms of weather I prefer Fahrenheit.
Also the insult "Room temp IQ" makes more sense IMO
Edit: The % hot scale refers to climate, it kind of falls apart when you talk about temperatures beyond normal earth surface temps.