Well, it usually doesn’t actually start to freeze and snow at 32/0. It’s usually got to be below freezing for a while before it gets icy, and it’ll often snow above freezing and sleet below. It’s usually more dangerous if it’s above freezing because the layers of melting ice make the unmelted ice far more slick.
It’s why for weather information, it really doesn’t matter what scale you use so much as knowing where those bands are on the scale you use.
The peril is a gradient, so the actual number that matches freezing really doesn’t matter.
At least that’s my take as a person who lives somewhere where cold weather conditions are a frequent topic of conversation.
The temperature itself doesn’t start to get perilous until you’re in the negatives on the Fahrenheit scale, or -17C.
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
And water boiling at 100C is useful too because boiling water is used so often in cooking.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
I gotta ask, do you use a thermometer to boil water?
Metric is a more coherent system, but let’s not pretend it’s magic or more than it is.
The numeric value associated with boiling water has no impact on cooking, because the boiling water doesn’t care.
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
No, but I use a thermometer (built into the electric kettle) to prepare tea. Greens want to be brewed at 75-80C. Whites are often about 70C. Oolongs are about 95C.
But the human who is doing the cooking might care.