You can basically put a "%" after a fahrenheit temperature and read it as "percentage of a really hot day" and you'll get a pretty good idea what it feels like outside.

It's pretty well calibrated as a 0-100 scale for human temperature perception.

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esperent 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I moved from a cold climate to a tropical climate and let me assure you there's no human universal understanding of what's comfortably hot or cold, definitely not to the point of putting a percentage on it. I can walk around in a T-shirt and shorts at 17C (62f) while locals will be wrapping up in scarves and talking about how freezing it is. Meanwhile they'll be fairly comfortable at 35C (95f), at least if the humidity isn't high, and I'll be stuck in with the AC blasting.

So in other words Fahrenheit is a western centric measurement (or at least, temperature climate centric), while Celsius is universal.

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nkrisc 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

The subjective experience doesn’t really matter because many places in the US will experience a 100 degree F range over an entire year. So it’s not the “comfortable range” but the actual range you’ll get in many parts of the US (whether you like it or not).

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WarmWash 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Right, but "room temperature" is pretty universal everywhere because we are going with the "average human" rather than "outliers exist and maybe feel differently"

	▲	esperent a day ago \| parent [-]
		No it's not. Room temperature in tropical countries is often 26-30C. I work in the food industry and this whole "room temperature" thing is a major bugbear for me actually because when so much food dates markings are designed around a room temperature of ~22C, it's a big health and safety issue for people (and shops, warehouses, restaurants) who don't know that and happily store the goods up to the date marking at 30C. Deciding that room temperature ~=22C and basing worldwide food safety on that is absolutely Western centric. Obviously people here are not stupid and don't store meat etc. past when it's gone bad. But I've often bought e.g. oils from suppliers and it's clear that it's on the edge of rancidity even though it's got a year+ to go on the date because it's been stored at "room temperature".

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jandrewrogers 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The US has the widest range of temperatures of any country. Locations can vary by >50°C in a 24 hour period. Extreme temperatures are familiar to Americans and their society is well-adapted to it.

Calling Fahrenheit "western centric" is nonsensical. Every other country has a narrower temperature range that fits within the US temperature range.

	▲	esperent a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> The US has the widest range of temperatures of any country I assure you it does not. But I guess American Exceptionalism makes you want to believe that so go ahead. A 5s google search suggests the country with the widest range is probably Russia.
	▲	a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

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folkrav a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It doesn't map nearly as well for those of us who regularly have temperatures under -17C/0F in the winter. For me Celsius maps a LOT better to the temperatures I actually deal with year round. -17C is, accounting for wind chill, an average-ish winter day, that I'd consider pretty comfortable at this time of the year, assuminv appropriate clothing.

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konart 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You can do the same thing with celsius if you live in a country with a different temperature "calendar".

I'm used to the idea that 0C is what splits the year between cold season and warm season. Obviously people from California will see it differently, for example.

So where I live it is like this:

30 or more - hot

15..30 warm

0..15 chilly

-15..0 calendar winter

-30..-15 real winter

..-30 - freezing, kinds younger than 12 don't go to school

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WarmWash 2 days ago | parent [-]

Sure, but we usually don't judge things on a scale from -30 to +30.

Judging anything on a scale from 0-10 (or 0-100) is very common.

	▲	konart 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, but that the whole problem: this scale kind of suggests that you don't go below 0. But this is not the case here, right? Some people are used to higher temperatures and never seen snow while some people can't even imagine what it's like to have 40C (104F) outside. 0C is a great "common denominator" (irony). We all understand that generally this is when water changes its state and most people know how it feels. And then your imagination can easily go lower or higher. >Judging anything on a scale from 0-10 (or 0-100) is very common. Now consider that many people live in places where 0F is warmer than what you actually have for a good part of a year.