How to Switch to Celsius
This post is primarily targeted towards those living in countries that don't use Celsius yet.
Why Use Celsius
Celsius is the international standard. It is used in almost every country except for the United States and her territories, Liberia, and some Caribbean countries. Standardizing how we measure temperature (and other measurements) helps avoid confusion.
Celsius also works logically with other measurements. To quote John Bazell:
“In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade—which is 1 percent of the difference between its freezing point and its boiling point.”
Imperial measurements do not work so seamlessly.
Celsius is also used heavily in science. Unfortunately, people living in countries that use Fahrenheit must learn both it and Celsius for their science classes. Needlessly having to learn 2 systems that do the same exact thing is inefficient.
Converting to Celsius will also help countries like the US to switch to metric. In fact, conversion errors costed the US a USD 125 million dollar Martian probe! Switching to Celsius would help prevent such errors.
Table
Rather than convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius (which introduces unnecessary math), it is far better to associate a number with a feeling. You can use this table as reference. It should only be used when reading weather temperatures.
| °C | Feeling | °F |
|---|---|---|
| Below 0 | 🧊 Very cold. Get thick clothes. The lower, the more you might need | Below 32 |
| 0-9 | ❄️ Cold. Wear a jacket. | 32-49 |
| 10-14 | 🧥 Relatively cold. I recommend wearing a jacket, but some people are used to these temperatures. | 50-59 |
| 15-19 | 🟦 Cool. You don't really need a jacket, but some people might want one. | 59-67 |
| 20-24 | 🟩 Ideal temperature, especially for t-shirts and shorts | 68-76 |
| 25-29 | 🟨 Warm, but not hot. You will start sweating if you are overexerting yourself. | 77-85 |
| 30-34 | 🟧 Hot. It is easy to sweat. | 86-94 |
| 35-40 | 🟥 Very hot. | 94-104 |
| Over 40 | 🔥 Excruciating. | Over 104 |
How to Start
Switch all temperature reading services (such as weather) to Celsius. This is as easy as looking up “how to switch {x} to Celsius.”