this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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Yeah but that's not how the number monkeys running human heuristics work. 70 degrees F = warm, I can wear a T-shirt and shorts; 60 degrees F = a little bit cooler, I would wear pants and long sleeves. 21.111 degrees C vs 15.556 degrees C =
I don't know why people insist on bringing up decimals at all for Celsius; nobody uses them. never even think about temperatures other than in 5C increments
it's
30C - too hot
25C - perfect
20C - oh that's nice
15C - I'm wearing a thin jacket
10C - I'm wearing a jacket
5C - I'm wearing a hat and a scarf
0C - winter has arrived
-5C and below - damn it's kinda cold
That's fair, but Fahrenheit is basically the same thing but for 10s and fits comfortably between 0 and 100:
100 - I ain't movin'
90 - too hot
80 - hot
70 - perfect
60 - cool
50 - chilly
40 - brisk
30 - brr
20 - heavy coat
10 - heavy coat + thermals
0 - I ain't movin'
negative celsius is the most important part of why i dislike it. in the fahrenheit you have "below freezing", which isn't really all that cold, and you have "below zero", which is fucking freezing. you could say "below negative seventeen point seven eight" i guess
This reasoning is bizarre to me. Is it 0 or less? Then it will fundamentally change the weather - it'll be frosty, watch out for ice or snow. I'm not sure why you'd "most importantly" prefer negative meaning that yeah it's like.. colder.
because it's convenient to be able to express the difference between just below freezing and abnormally cold. it's the difference between wearing a sweater and a long sleeve shirt and wearing a jacket and scarf. or just not going outside.
20 celsius is 68 fahrenheit, 21 celsius is not quite 70 fahrenheit. you don't need the granularity of fahrenheit, you cannot feel the difference between 68 and 69 fahrenheit. any belief you have that there is a benefit to fahrenheit is an illusion brought about from your immersion in it
OK that's two clothing warmth levels — what about the other 98
You have 98 different outfits depending on the temperature?
No, but that's why I don't need 98+ degrees of granularity when I'm deciding which of my two coats to put on
Because that level of precision is.. entirely unnecessary anyway. Say 21C vs 15C and everybody understands the same thing.
But 21 and 15 aren't as nice and intuitive as 60 and 70
This will be entirely down to what you're used to. Because I and everyone I know disagrees.
70 degree F - 60 degree F comparison is just 20 and 15 C for the purposes of dressing you don't really need to use the fractions lol. you do need to abandon the notion that every perceptually significant difference is 10 degrees up or down.
ironic i was replying to someone suggesting F gives users more granularity but how you use it you're only paying attention to the deci-degrees
it's not just the granularity. in the modern day weather systems convert from celsius anyway, so you will never see a temperature of 69 (unfortunately). it's about how many numbers relating to humanity happen to fit in between 0 and 100°. if i were designing a system of measurement from scratch i would set whatever baseline body temperature is at 100. call it the "go nude in the shade" temperature. the temperature at which the average person is at complete equilibrium with the room. for zero it would have to be something really cold so that "below zero" actually means something. the actual number is debatable but it definitely isn't the point at which water freezes. fahrenheit isn't perfect but it almost matches those those constraints and so, while certain climates might regularly fall outside the 0-99° range, i think most people in the world would agree that their definition of "temperate" falls in there, and outside that range is uncomfortable. also as a bonus the difference between freezing and boiling is 180°F, which is half 360°, which is a nice number.
below freezing is not subjective and tells you concrete things about the environment. i don't see the advantage in having "temperate" on a 30 vs 20 degree scale, 1 degree C and 1 degree F are both imperceptible
it's an advantage of having "below zero" actually tell you something, and to tell you something different from "below freezing". it's useful shorthand for "it's fucking freezing out"