Posted on 08/10/2003 11:01:29 AM PDT by knighthawk
Britain has experienced its first-ever recorded temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) as sweltering weather conditions blanketed the south of the country, forecasters said.
The temperature in the shade at Heathrow airport, just west of London, hit 37.9 Celsius (100.2 Fahrenheit) just before 3:00pm (12:00am AEST), the Met Office, Britain's government meteorological bureau, told AFP.
"The temperatures are still climbing, so we might well go even higher soon," a spokesman said.
Earlier in the day the previous record high of 37.1 degrees Celsius (98.8 Fahrenheit), set in Cheltenham, central England in August 1990, was exceeded, also at Heathrow.
British temperature statistics go back to the mid-1870s, when measuring techniques were first standarised.
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Britain records hottest day ever
Britain has experienced the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the country, with the heat at Heathrow airport just west of London hitting 37.4 Celsius, meteorologists announced.
The temperature exceeded the previous high of 37.1 degrees Celsius (98.8 Fahrenheit), set in central England in August 1990, early Sunday afternoon, the Met Office, Britain's government meteorological bureau, told AFP.
Later Sunday the mercury was expected to exceed 100 Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) for the first time since British weather records began, Met Office forecaster Martin Rowley said.
"In summer, the peak of the heat isn't usually until around 5:00pm, so we should go higher yet," he said.
"It's only a bit to go to 100 degrees, so I'd say there's a fair chance still."
Millions of Britons have been flocking to beaches, lakes and parks in recent days as the country has been blanketed under the heat wave currently affecting much of Europe.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s921200.htm
Personally, I don't think it matters which system a nation uses as long as they stick to one thing or the other. At the end of the day, temperature is always going to be some lines on a thermometer with corresponding numbers. To get more accurate on the Celsius scale you need to get into decimals where as with the F scale you needn't right away.
While, I personally prefer working with metric numbers for weight and length because it's just easier and simpler I grew up with the US system and will always think of some things in those terms (height of a person for example). By easier to work with, I mean- if you want to figure out how many inches are in 768 miles, you're going to have to break out a pencil and paper and do some multiplying. If you want to know how many meters or centimeters are in 768 kilometers you just have to add some zeros correspondingly (768,000 and 76,800,000 respectively are the solutions). Same with weight. This is why we use the "metric" system with US Dollars.
Anyway, what a nation really doesn't want to do is get into a system where they are using odds and ends from two systems which is exactly what the Brits do. They use miles for long distances but metric for short ones. So something might be 3 miles down the road but your ceiling is 2.4 meters high. They use pints (20 ounces) in the pub but liters in the petrol station. They use stone (which breaks down into lbs and ounces) for personal weight but kilos for damn near everything else. And of course, they use Centigrade for temperature. It's really weird. I wish they'd go to one or the other and stop using both.
but I still prefer the British Imperial system of weights and measures and I hope we never change.
(as pointed out earlier, even the US doesn't use total British measure- a US gallon is smaller than a British one)
.....or the high desert, and crap tables in Las Vegas.
After a long day of fighting in the hot sun, their faces looked liked rare roast beef.
Look at some pictures of Prince Charles or his sons after a polo match...
"Roast Beef" indeed!!
As an Irish-American I can't help but laugh..
The Brits, the Brits, the Brits are on fire...we don't give a **** let them mother****ers burn, burn mother****ers burn!!
I don't really follow that one. I'm American of Irish descent (no hyphens) but my face gets red when I exert myself, always has. I don't really connect your comment with mine about the warm beer. Many Americans are always going on about the Brits drinking warm beer and I've never seen beer served warm my entire time here. Lager is always served cold as is stout. Ale- maybe it's served warm down south but I'm not much of an ale person.
LOL! My Irish blood makes my face get red just bending over to tie my shoe! ;o)
Here in the northeast US, it has been a mild and wet summer.
JMO, the limeys should enjoy their hot summer, since it usually only happens every 30 years or so.
As Brooke Shields used to say, "Nothing stood between her and her Kelvin Klein jeans."
Then again, you girly limmy's love running from us Americans.
Always have, always will.
GeorgeIII called,.......... he wants North America back....
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
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