Tag Archives: temperature

That The U.S. Is The ONLY Country With More Than 5 Million People That Still Uses Fahrenheit Got Me Thinking.

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by Anura Guruge
on January 14, 2021

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Click to ENLARGE. I dashed this off.
Click to ENLARGE. From yesterday’s post.
Click to ENLARGE. Here is the link to the original.

Yesterday I did a post about how one of my VERY American neighbors, an ex-jock, the V. proud owner of a new (expensive) ‘Range Rover’ mistook temperatures stated in Centigrade (C) as being in Fahrenheit. So, he was going around saying how cold it was & that it was -17F when it was -17C — i.e., 0F. HUGE Difference — like -17F. He cracked me up. But, it got me thinking & looking.

I was SHOCKED that non of the BIG British Commonwealth countries, e.g., Canada or South Africa, still used F. Wow.

So, the U.S. stands alone.

I personally have no problem. I love my old imperial units. That is what I grew up with & I left the U.K. before they went metric. So, I have managed to stay ahead of Metrication (or metrification). Given my advanced age, I think I am going to be OK, i.e., manage to stay all imperial till I die.

Got me looking into who still uses MILES. Some might argue about the U.K. They use miles & km in parallel.

I also happened to look at what countries still drove on the LEFT. That is a longer list BUT, of course, the U.S. is not on it. Kind of ironic. Doesn’t drive on the LEFT but uses MILES & F.

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‘Range Rover’ APP Does NOT Show ‘C’ or ‘F’ Next To Temp. — Americans Think It Is ‘F’ When It is Really ‘C’!

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by Anura Guruge
on January 13, 2021

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Click to ENLARGE. Got image from a ‘Google Image’ search.

Two days ago we had a very cold snap up here in New Hampshire.

A distant neighbor, an ex-professional ‘jock’, who had purchased a ‘Range Rover’ a few months back, posted a picture from his Range Rover APP saying the temp was -17.

I questioned that. I had been checking the temp. all day because I wanted to go out and get at least 10K steps in so as not to break my 600-day PLUS streak. I try NOT to stay out for too long when it is below -5F because I have been told that this could harm my ancient (& much abused) lungs. I did go out & get my 10K steps in. Temp. never really got to 5F — more like 3F. But, I kept my time outside to 30 minutes or less.

So, I was very confused as to where he was getting his -17 from.

Then when I was doing my post, I converted 0F to Centigrade. BINGO. BINGO.

-17C = 0F.

I immediately realized what had happened.

I went and looked at the picture he had posted. BINGO. No ‘C’ or ‘F’. Just ‘-17’.

He had NOT set his temp. units correctly.

He can’t help it. He will be the first to admit, that he is an out and out jock.

I doubled over laughing. Oh, dear. Oh, dear.

Click to ENLARGE. Here is the link to the original.

As you can see from the above, the U.S., really, is the only country of significance that still uses ‘F’ for temperature. So, you can understand why the likes of Range Rover do NOT bother with the ‘F’ or ‘C’ designation THOUGH the APP (of course) supports both units. Just doesn’t tell you which one you are using.

To be fair most people would work it out quickly that they have the wrong setting.

You can always rely on an American jock to show you how crazy folks can be. SMILE.

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‘Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island)’: His Father’s 1864 Meteorological Invention Is Still In Use.

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by Anura Guruge
on July 12, 2021

Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Wikipedia‘.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. Click here to access ‘Wikipedia‘ entry.

I am sure we have all seen these ‘weather boxes’ over the years. I kind of knew that there function was to protect the meteorological instruments inside. I had not given it much thought. I had no idea that these boxes had an official name, viz., ‘Stevenson Screen‘. I had also never heard that Robert Louis Stevenson had such a gifted & famous dad. I was kind of chuffed to learn all of this. Hence why I am sharing it with you.

I found all of this earlier today when I went looking for the exact reason why we NEVER (ever) quote weather temperature in terms of: ‘in the sun‘. It always has to be: ‘in the shade‘. That is because a thermometer directly exposed to the sun collects solar radiation & thus reports a temperature much higher than that of the air around it. Since we (as humans) are not made out of the same material as a thermometer, we can’t claim that our bodies must also be as hot as the temp. registered by a thermometer exposed to the sun.

All of this because I saw a post yesterday, on Facebook, where the person was citing ‘in the sun’ readings to show how it had been in Saudi Arabia that day. I am glad that this post aroused my curiosity.