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Listserv: District to convert to Celsius
* Cooling down: Full Forecast | Storm photo sequence *
The following was posted to the Cleveland Park (in NW D.C.) listserv yesterday...
Will signs like this one in Dupont circle convert to metric? By CWG photographer Ian Livingston.
Is It News? D.C. Switches to Celsius to Cope With Heat Wave
by Bill Adler
In an emergency effort to reduce electricity consumption during this heat wave, the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments (COG) will be making all future weather announcements and forecasts in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit, Maxine Roberts, WMCOG spokesperson announced today.
This is the hottest June in 50 years and electricity use is at an all-time high. "By converting to Celsius, people will perceive a lower temperature and not feel like they have to turn their air conditioning up so high," Roberts said. "97F is 37.1C, for example. Even 90F, which often feels hot, especially if you're a transplant from New Hampshire, is only 32.2 Celsius. 'Mind over matter' matters when it comes to heat and humidity. Everyone here knows that visualizing icebergs, thinking about cool waterfalls, and seeing a lower thermometer reading in your mind's eye is all you need to feel better in this heat."
Keep reading for more on the conversion...
Roberts pointed out that there are several additional advantages to converting from Fahrenheit. "Because Celsius is a one syllable word, it's easier to spell than Fahrenheit," she said.
Roberts also noted that using Celsius is part of DC's "Go Metric" campaign. "We have an added incentive to put ourselves in sync with the rest of the planet when it comes to measurements." She added, "After spending weeks glued to their TVs watching the World Cup, everyone should be comfortable with the way things are done around the world."
"This will probably become a permanent change," Roberts observed. "We considered making a twice-a-year switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit to coincide with the daylight saving time clock change, but it makes sense to go metric and stick with that." She acknowledged that the DC City Council could override the WMCOG's decision and use either Censius or Fahrenheit, but that would make things very confusing if other jurisdictions stuck with Celsius. "It would be worse than living in Arizona, which doesn't observe daylight saving time at all, and is, for that reason, disconnected with the rest of the nation."
The Washington chapter of the Sierra Club applauded WMCOG's move toward Celsius. "We're in favor of anything that gets people to conserve energy," said Whit Greenacre. "At the Sierra Club, we've been using our imaginations for decades to pretend we're someplace else."
(This satirical piece was originally posted on June 28 on the Cleveland Park listserv. Used with permission.)
By
Jason Samenow
| June 29, 2010; 1:15 PM ET
Categories:
Humor
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Posted by: jruud | June 29, 2010 1:40 PM | Report abuse
This is a joke, right?
So I guess in the winter they'll go back to using Fahrenheit so it doesn't "feel" so cold.
Why don't the just make up their own temperature scale based on how many beads of sweat appear of Marion Barry's forhead every minute?
Posted by: Russtinator | June 29, 2010 1:41 PM | Report abuse
There is no way that people could be this stupid. This should be in The Onion.
Posted by: CAC2 | June 29, 2010 1:51 PM | Report abuse
I think the joke is the outrage of the people who didn't read the last bit:
"(This satirical piece was originally posted on June 28 on the Cleveland Park listserv. Used with permission.)"
:)
Posted by: wildwolf45 | June 29, 2010 1:56 PM | Report abuse
LOL! - very funny. It clearly says it's satirical. Why so many complainers! LOL
Posted by: DCClyclist | June 29, 2010 1:56 PM | Report abuse
Reminds me of a cartoon where two guys are walking down the street on stifling hot day, and one says to the other:
“Let’s go over to Celsius’s place. I hear
it’s only 36 over there.”
http://www.dc-ams.org/newsletters/07-08/MayJun08Newsletter.pdf
BTW: 36C = 96.8F
Posted by: SteveT-CapitalWeatherGang | June 29, 2010 2:20 PM | Report abuse
Converting to Celsius doesn't diminish the heat...32C=89/90F.
Posted by: Bombo47jea | June 29, 2010 2:54 PM | Report abuse
Good one!
Posted by: Mr_Q | June 29, 2010 3:17 PM | Report abuse
You had me until "Because Celsius is a one syllable word"... Granted, I was mighty surprised about the reasoning displayed up to that point. Good one!
Posted by: Murre | June 29, 2010 3:22 PM | Report abuse
If this were all true, I wouldn't doubt that hearing "32 degrees" instead of "90 degrees" would make me feel cooler -- even just a bit! Great piece.
Posted by: Ann-CapitalWeatherGang | June 29, 2010 4:42 PM | Report abuse
We should also switch to metric humidity. For example, saying 8.3 millihumes sounds like a lot less than 83% humidity.
Posted by: btd_ | June 29, 2010 5:58 PM | Report abuse
Even better, the current dew point temperature is 15 deg C
Posted by: SteveT-CapitalWeatherGang | June 29, 2010 6:10 PM | Report abuse
Why don't these bozos FIRST take a poll or referendum among D.C. residents and see what the public reaction is?. And, if reaction is favorable (I'd bet it won't be), THEN change the policy. In the meantime, don't screw with the Farenheit system unless the public wants it.
Posted by: MMCarhelp | June 29, 2010 9:15 PM | Report abuse
I hope that NWS, Accuweather, and The Weather Channel don't go along with this asinine policy. Unfortunately, FAA did, back in the 1990's.
Posted by: MMCarhelp | June 29, 2010 9:23 PM | Report abuse
Hilarious that some people ^^^ are still not getting it.
btw, I think a Celsius switchover (for real) would be cool. Why is 32F freezing and 212F boiling? Crazy scale...
Posted by: ennepe68 | June 29, 2010 10:37 PM | Report abuse
People, don't we want to break records and impress our future grandchildren? Then we should measure temperature using the Kelvin scale. 90 F is about 305 K. Better yet, let's record the specific enthalpy of the air. At 90 F, that would be over 300000 joules per kilogram. Now that's a heat wave to remember.
Posted by: imback | June 29, 2010 10:58 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
"Because Celsius is a one syllable word, it's easier to spell than Fahrenheit," she said.
Since when is Celsius any less syllables than Fahrenheit?
"We considered making a twice-a-year switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit to coincide with the daylight saving time clock change, but it makes sense to go metric and stick with that."
AND changing the measuring system I've known my entire life on the same day my Circadian rhythm is thrown off... Genius!