Why does the British press use fahrenheit and celsius depending on the time of year?

Question

Have you noticed in the months of Spring, Summer and Autumn if the heat becomes almost unbearable (or hot, anyhow), papers...usually the red/black tops will boldly print the temperature in fahrenheit (85°f/90°f. Higher, higher...), but come the nasty early days of the New Year when the UK stands still, the headlines rely on celsius to have us shiver; 'Four below...wrap up!'/'15 below in mid Scotland. Roads turned into ice-rinks!' Sure you've got the message. 'Tis true 90°f is far 'sexier' than it's 'twin' (32°c) - and other the other end of the thermometer, 4°c below (-4°) is far 'sexier' than 25°f...and -10c will always read better than 14°f...could it be a method used by the papers to have us claim 'sickness' and stay off work for a couple of days?

Answer 1

I heard somebody from the Met Office answer the same question about BBC radio forecasts.



In winter they use C because (as you said) UK winter temperatures are are in a fairly small range close to 0C and people are interested in whether they are above or below 0 for lots of different reasons.



There are also lots of people who have not used C for most of their life and don't have much idea how hot 25 or 30 C is but, they do understand F. The forecasts broadcast by the BBC use both F and C in summer, but they don't use F in winter.



Actually I'm one of them the people who dont "understand" summer temperatures in C. I've worked as an engineer for many years and I know of what temperatures in the range say 500C to 1500C "mean" for how materials behave etc, because I work with that range of temperatures every day. But if you tell me the weather is going to be 28C tomorrow I have to mentally convert it to F before I know how hot it will be.

Answer 2

UK is supposed to be metric, but the conversion is taking a very long time.



Re the press reports of temperature, you should ask them, that is their decision, not mine.



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