Celsius - Worldwide Adoption

Worldwide Adoption

Throughout the world, except in the United States, Belize, Palau and the United States territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands the Celsius temperature scale is used for practically all purposes. The only exceptions are some specialist fields (e.g., low-temperature physics, astrophysics, light temperature in photography) where the closely related Kelvin scale dominates instead.

Most of the entire scientific field and many engineering fields use the Celsius scale, and the metric system in general. However, most Americans remain more accustomed to the Fahrenheit scale, which is the scale that U.S. broadcasters and journalists use in weather forecasting, although the equivalent in Celsius is sometimes provided alongside. It is also commonly used in the U.S. for measurement of body temperature, and household use such as cooking, and is the scale commonly seen on ovens and in recipes. In Canada, kitchen devices, literature, and packaging include both Fahrenheit and Celsius quotations.

The United Kingdom has gradually increased use of the Celsius scale since the 1970s and it is now the predominant temperature scale used, but it is widely called centigrade. Occasionally broadcasters and publications quote Fahrenheit air temperatures alongside Celsius in weather forecasts, and air-temperature thermometers sold sometimes show both scales.