Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

When open water swimmers visit the United States, Cayman islands or Belize, many are confused when the water temperature is announced at 62°F or 72°F or 82°F.

62°F? Pretty cool at 16.7°C.

72°F? Pretty nice at 22.2°C.

82°F? Pretty warm at 27.7°C.

The world’s swimming community outside those 3 countries is much more comfortable knowing the water temperature in the Celsius scale (known until 1948 as centigrade).

Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees. So when you are overseas, this is a convenient scale to understand:

0°C = 32°F
1°C = 33.8°F
2°C = 35.6°F
3°C = 37.4°F
4°C = 39.2°F
5°C = 41°F
6°C = 42.8°F
7°C = 44.6°F
8°C = 46.4°F
9°C = 48.2°F
10°C = 50°F
11°C = 51.8°F
12°C = 53.6°F
13°C = 55.4°F
14°C = 57.2°F
15°C = 59°F
16°C = 60.8°F
17°C = 62.6°F
18°C = 64.4°F
19°C = 66.2°F
20°C = 68°F
21°C = 69.8°F
22°C = 71.6°F
23°C = 73.4°F
24°C = 75.2°F
25°C = 77°F
26°C = 78.8°F
27°C = 80.6°F
28°C = 82.4°F
29°C = 84.2°F
30°C = 86°F
31°C = 87.8°F

Copyright © 2008 – 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association