Have many people heard centimetres mentioned a lot in last couple of days refering to the snow we are supposed to be getting? On my local radio station - Trax FM for Doncaster, the DJ kept saying this morning that we were expecting 5cm of snow. He kept mentioning it in passing, not just on the weather forecast.

Sorry, I forgot to put a title for this thread!

British rain used to fall in inches

British snow used to settle in inches

Metricated British rain falls in millimetres, often with inches in brackets though

Metricated British snow settles in centimetres often with inches in brackets though

British sun shines in non-metric hours and minutes

British winds blow in non-metric miles per hour or from Force 1 to Force 12 on the Beaufort Scale

British hail is probably measured in millimetres these days but when it's really big will usually be described in inches

Britain is said to have the worst weather but the best climate in the world.


P.S. Most of the reports I have seen and heard in the last few days have been that 'up to 6 inches of snow is expected'. If serious snow falls, expect loads of 'inches' and 'feet'. I somehow doubt that we'll hear much about '85-centimetre' or '1.5 metre' drifts

Capital FM, LBC and Radio 1 expressed it in inches only (although I can personally tell you that not one millimetre has dropped as of yet - 5.57pm!!)

LBC also claimed that 2 feet of snow had dropped in one area of america - i cannot remember which bit.

On Capital the young girl presenter (name unknown - from the news team) says "and temperatures will be x C, that's a very chilly y Fahrenheit" - although personally I find C temps better gauged for the cold.

Unless we hit 0 F !!!

Perhaps your DJ is one of those smashy nicey trendy types that'll never get beyond local radio?

Knowing that 5cm is near as dammit 2 inches I cannot imagine many people continuing too long with cm without reverting to inches.

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Metricated British snow settles in centimetres often with inches in brackets though
>>

All over Europe, snow depths are measured in centimetres. If you look at the ski reports in teh papers, you can see how the Scottish resorts are listed alphabetically with the French, Swiss, Austrian etc as part of the same list. It would be very awkward for the skiers to have Scottish snow depths in inches and everywhere else in centimetres.

Having established that skiers prefer to have snow depth in centimetres, when, if ever, should one switch to inches. The simple answer is "never".

"Having established that skiers prefer to have snow depth in centimetres"

Who decided this?

P.S. You obviously don't ski!

SteveH wrote

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P.S. You obviously don't ski!
>>

No, I don't ski, but if you go to Teletext page 571 (ITV) you can get the up-to-date snow reports from the Ski Club of Great Britian. All the reports are in centimetres.

Teletext eh?

How about whacking on some blades and giving it a go?

I do.

Every year!

Here in the US, while the NWS (National Weather Service) does all their data collection in metric, it gets reported in customary units. Not only that, but all the warnings/watch thresholds are based on customary units, i.e. wind warnings, hurricane warnings, etc.

Call any US ski resort and they will report you the snow in inches, and the wind in mph. While some American websites will give you the data in metric, it's just converted numbers, not raw data.

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What would be interesting to know is how accurate the conversions are from the raw data in metric units to those shown in non-metric units by the media. What liberties do the media take when they convert in order to give numbers a semblence of roundness?
>>

The media seems to follow the rules of significant figures quite well from my experience.

American Ski resorts January 28 2004, 7:48 PM

Here in the US, while the NWS (National Weather Service) does all their data collection in metric, it gets reported in customary units. Not only that, but all the warnings/watch thresholds are based on customary units, i.e. wind warnings, hurricane warnings, etc.

Call any US ski resort and they will report you the snow in inches, and the wind in mph. While some American websites will give you the data in metric, it's just converted numbers, not raw data.

metre:
I am sure something to be very proud of, not quite sure though why?

The point of this board is to discuss the relative emrits of metric and English and to show where either metric or English are used. Thus, these posts are relevant.

<<<What would be interesting to know is how accurate the conversions are from the raw data in metric units to those shown in non-metric units by the media>>>

Flippin 'eck! We're talking about snow depth here! For leisure activity!

What difference do you think it would make to the avg skier/boarder/blader if they get up the hill only to find it is 1/2 inch deeper than reported? Do you think they'd say "ooh! they didn't convert it right we'd better finish for the day".

I've heard various excuses for starting the apres-ski but this one I've never heard!

Do you have certain "issues" eurick?