12 ms·
> biased towards the West and Northern hemisphere The widest range of temperatures found in any country is the USA. In the continental US alone the temperature
by jandrewrogers 7d ago
> biased towards the West and Northern hemisphere
The widest range of temperatures found in any country is the USA. In the continental US alone the temperatures easily exceed -50°C and 50°C in both directions (much colder if you include Alaska). The USA also has the largest temperature change ever recorded in a 24 hour period, at 57°C.
Merits of specific measurement systems aside, the USA is arguably the most representative single country on Earth when it comes to temperature and "how people feel". It has among the hottest, coldest, and most extreme temperature ranges ever recorded.
- hn993302 7d agoYep, highest outdoor temperature ever recorded was in the US. Even if you live in Death Valley, F makes more sense than C.
- Xirdus 7d agoI really don't get this argument. Why does more extreme temperature mean that F makes more sense than C?
- hn993302 7d agoIt doesn't mean that. F is better than C for weather no matter what kind of climate you live in. A few comments up, someone was saying F only makes more sense than C because you live somewhere with specific temperature ranges. But the US has all sorts of ranges.
- Xirdus 6d agoGot it. But why?
- hn993302 6d agoCelsius isn't granular enough (people can perceive 0.5˚C changes), and anything above 50˚C is rare or nonexistent. 0-100˚F pretty much lines up with the extremes.
- Xirdus 5d agoEmpirically, my wife can perceive a 0° change on a bad day. The same temperature can be too hot and too cold at the same time. That said, I have never encountered a situation where 1°F makes any difference. If somebody feels bad, it takes at least 2-3°F change to make them feel good again. Celsius is granular enough for that. All workplace safety and food safety regulations in Europe are expressed in whole, non-fractional degrees Celsius. What's so special about the number 50? Why aren't you comparing to 40°C instead? 40°C is a more useful boundary than both 50°C and 100°F.
- hn993302 5d agoThermostats normally use 0.5˚C increments because people can feel the difference. Then they disable the decimals when in F mode. 50˚C is the highest temperature that regularly occurs in the hottest place I can think of, Death Valley. The point is, half the 0-100 range never gets used even in extreme settings. But yeah, in most places, more than half is unused.
- Xirdus 5d agoThermostats are made with way more granurality than needed, like body scales with 100 gram/quarter pound precision or battery testers with millivolt sensitivity. Most people have single zone HVAC with one controlling thermometer, and it's literally impossible for the whole house to have uniform temperature. And yet, most people are fine around the whole house, not just where the controlling thermometer is. I still don't get why are you so fixated on 50°C. Why not 125°F? You'd get even more unused range if you go 0-125.