The Weather Channel network moves to Celsius

After much debate, The Weather Channel is proud to announce that, effective immediately, the television network will be using the Celsius scale to report temperatures. This move comes at the expense of the Fahrenheit scale, which has been the exclusive temperature scale for The Weather Channel since its inception in 1982.

Outsiders have speculated that the move is part of an effort to make The Weather Channel a more attractive weather provider to countries around the world, but a company spokesperson says this simply isn’t true.

“While we always want to be inclusive of the global world that we all live in these days, the simple truth is that, after much internal deliberation, we’ve determined that it just doesn’t make sense for water to freeze at 32°. People understand something freezing at 0°,” the spokesperson said.

For those of us who have never been taught how to read the Celsius scale, fear not! The Weather Channel will be providing a Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion chart for all viewers beginning today. We want our viewers to have the opportunity to fully adjust to the Celsius scale, so we will be airing the conversion scale in the bottom, right-hand corner of all programming for the next two months.

Fans who are mathematically inclined can also use the simple equation T(°C) = (T(°F) — 32) × 5/9 to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Never understood Celsius before? Here are a few quick notes on what is considered the international scale for measuring temperature:

• Celsius is more practical, easier to remember and easier to teach. When using the Celsius Scale, 0 degrees represents the freezing point of water and 100 degrees represents the boiling point; much easier than trying to remember the 32 degree freezing point and 212 degree boiling point associated with the Fahrenheit scale.
• The World Meteorological Organization already uses Celsius as its primary form of measuring temperature.
• Only 5 countries in the world still use the Fahrenheit scale as their primary form of measuring temperature; The United States (and associated territories), Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Islands and Palau.
• Nearly all countries switched over to the Celsius Scale in the 1970s in an attempt to standardize the use of the metric system.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding this decision should visit weloveweather.tv, and sign up to receive updates, or use the hashtag #TWCgoesCelsius.

That being said, we would like to inform you, yes you, the one reading this article, to refer to your calendar if you aren’t aware of the important holiday taking place today…

Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on April 1 (aka April Fool’s Day).