Metric to US converter: Celsius, kilograms, kilometers, liters and centimeters

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Where you run into each unit

Celsius: travel weather, recipes and thermometers

Water freezes at 0 °C and boils at 100 °C, which is 32 °F and 212 °F. Because the two scales start at different points, you can't convert with a single multiplication. You multiply by 9/5 and then add 32. In a weather forecast abroad, 25 °C is a warm beach day (77 °F) and 35 °C is a heat wave (95 °F). A body temperature of 37 °C is the familiar 98.6 °F, and 38 °C (100.4 °F) is where a fever starts.

Kilograms: doctor's offices, gym plates and luggage

One kilogram is 2.2 pounds. Doctors and nurses often chart weight in kilograms because medication doses are calculated per kilogram. Olympic bumper plates come in kilograms too, so a "20 kg" bar is really 44.1 lb. Airlines outside the US usually cap checked bags at 23 kg, which is 50.7 lb. That is why the familiar 50 lb limit lines up so closely with it.

Kilometers: races, road trips and car specs

Running races are named in kilometers even in the US: 5K, 10K, half and full marathons. Driving in Canada or Mexico, speed limits are posted in km/h, so a 100 km/h sign means about 62 mph. To estimate miles, multiply kilometers by 0.6. To go the other way, multiply miles by 1.6.

Liters: soda bottles, wine and engine size

Liters are already on American shelves. The 2-liter soda bottle holds 67.6 fl oz, a standard 750 mL bottle of wine holds 25.4 fl oz, and a 500 mL water bottle is the 16.9 fl oz size printed on the label. Car engines are also sized in liters: a "2.0L" engine displaces about 122 cubic inches. When you buy gas abroad, remember that 3.785 liters make one US gallon.

Centimeters: height, furniture and screen sizes

Passport applications for many countries, international clothing sizes and imported furniture all list measurements in centimeters. One inch is exactly 2.54 cm, so divide by 2.54 to get inches, then by 12 for feet. A 180 cm person is just under 5′11″. A sofa listed at 200 cm wide is 78.7 inches, roughly 6½ feet.

The US customary system shares names with the British imperial system, but not every size. Miles, feet, inches and pounds are the same in both. Gallons, pints and fluid ounces are larger in the UK: a British pint is 20 fl oz, not 16. When a recipe or fuel figure comes from the UK, check which system it uses.

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