Estimating the metric weather

Americans really have no need for metrification, since we use the same system everywhere. Most of us have to travel across an ocean, or at least to another country, before we have use for the metric system in everyday life, outside of specific contexts. And so I never really learned to make small talk about the weather in the metric system, even when I lived in a metric country for a year and a half.

But it's probably not all that hard to convert mentally: 5°C is 9°F. So a Celsius temperature in the low teens corresponds to a Fahrenheit temperature in the 50s, while a Celsius temperature in the high teens corresponds to a Fahrenheit temperature in the 60s.

Celsius	Fahrenheit
0-5°C	32-41°F
5-10°C	41-50°F
10-15°C	50-59°F
15-20°C	59-68°F
20-25°C	68-77°F
25-30°C	77-86°F
30-35°C	86-95°F
35-40°C	95-104°F
40-45°C	104-113°F
45-50°C	113-122°F

More broadly, around here in Kentucky, temperatures in winter are usually in the 00s, spring in the 10s, summer in the 30s, and fall in the 20s. In Louisville it very rarely breaks 40°C, but when I was a kid in Oklahoma it sometimes got over 45°C, I remember seeing a record high of 49°C (120°F).

OTOH, the metric system is very useful in cooking, since a cup is 240 mL, a tablespoon 15 mL, and a teaspoon 5 mL.

EDIT
It occurs to me the reason I never learned to estimate the temperature in Celsius, while living in a metric country, was that I spent much time precisely calculating the Celsius-to-Fahrenheit conversion. A simpler conversion, like "double the Celsius temperature and add 30" would have been better: quicker and easier and nearly as accurate.

Also, strikethough an egregious error :)

Winter 79: Spring is coming

The hard cold of the winter broke some time after Groundhog Day, and it's been warmer and rainier since. It's hardly ever dark on my ride home from work.

The maples began blooming a few days ago. Spring is coming.

Drought

It's official: for Louisville, this is the driest September on record, and the third driest month ever. 0.14 inches of rain in 40 days, and little prospect for more soon.

Spring 26: Green has returned

Today is the 26th day of Spring. Things move quickly at this time of year.

I saw my first daffodil in full flower on the 89th day of winter, the Friday that was the day before the equinox. In another day or two, the daffodils were in full flower.

Next was the yellow-flowered forsythia, and the purple saucer and white star magnolias came into full bloom. Then the Bradford pears burst into flower. By now, nearly all the trees are well into leafing out: from the bleak frozen winter of a month ago, everything is transformed. The tree pollen is really bothering my allergies, but the streets are nice and shady.

Last Sunday, I figured out how to hook up our bike trailer, and took the boy out for his first bike ride in Central Park. It was a good idea to take short ride; he still has a little getting-used-to-this to do.

Winter 81: Tidings of Spring

Today is the 81st day of winter; the vernal equinox is less than two weeks away.

The two weeks prior, until this past weekend, have been unrelentingly cold. I've always been glad that there's a dial thermometer outside across from the kitchen window; but for some weeks it has been a grim herald, unfailingly pointing to 20°F (-6°C) when I get up, and scarcely improving throughout the day.

This past weekend, it got up into the 50s, nearly to 60°F (15°C); it was up into the 60s on Monday. Yesterday it started in the 50s, and got up into the 70s (and would have done the same today if it wasn't threatening rainstorms). That's the kind of weather that really hearkens to Spring, to the first warm rain, and the first day that cyclists appear en masse. But now I'm not merely yearning for the Vernal Equinox to mark progress towards the end of winter's dire chill, but also for all the delights of spring, and the growing season. KET premiered "Thoroughbred" last night for pledge week, which certainly seems to me like an omen of the Derby, and our coming warm weather.

Sunsets are now noticably later, and the irises out front seem to be perking up, although everything in the yard is still very dormant, of course. My arborist friend identified the main tree in the backyard as a red maple, which appears not to have the expected flower buds, although leaf buds are present. The red maples in Central Park are blooming, the crocuses are blooming on St. James Court, and a few daffodils are getting ready to open their blossoms.

If I was starting seeds, I'd have to start them about now, if not earlier. But I don't really have plans for that, so I'll likely have to buy some tomatoes and peppers in a month or so, and plan on starting seeds next year.

Cold cycling season begins

Seems like most people think of cycling as a seasonal activity. I've been commuting by bike day in and out for a couple years now, in all kinds of weather, but there are a couple of days each year that mark the cycling seasons. One is the first day of spring, when it seems like everybody gets out on a bicycle to enjoy the nice weather. Another is a day like today, when you realize that you have to prepare for the serious cold weather. Today the temperature started around 17°F and made it all the way up to 25°F. It'll be like this all week. But on the first day, I head out a little prepared for ordinary cold jst above freezing, and once again learn an important lesson. In winter, I'm willing to cycle around town down into the single digits, almost 30°F below freezing, but dressing for that kind of weather takes a little adjustment.

My normal winter gear is a fleece jacket under a winter coat shell, a knit cap that covers my ears, a wool scarf and some gloves. For the serious cold weather, you need windproof gloves, like ski gloves, a couple more shirt or sweater layers, and maybe thermal underwear or wool socks. Cycling in the cold is not really all that bad, as long as you have windproof clothes over layers, because you generate heat as you work. Windproofness is important, though, because there's an inherent wind chill when you're cycling along at ten or fifteen miles an hour. And at least if it's 15°F below freezing, there's little chance of rain and rarely high winds, which are the real irritating weather for cycling.

For some perspective though, I looked up today's weather for Louisville's sister city Perm, in the middle of Russia. Today's weather was not all that different; it was 15°F-24°F in Perm. But Tuesday night, it's supposed to get down to -22°F.