Freezing Vs Below Freezing | WordReference Forums
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- Thread starter Thread starter squirrel0215
- Start date Start date Jan 2, 2021
squirrel0215
New Member
Korean As I looked up in the dictionary, freezing could mean being at or below the temperature at which water freezes. So it includes "below" the temperature at which water freezes. If so, what is the specific difference between freezing and below freezing? Is the latter just emphasizing coldness better? (It including only the below version of coldness, while freezing could mean either at or below?) Thank you!
BLUEGLAZE
Senior Member
English - USA In casual conversation 'freezing' just means it is very cold (outside). When you say it's below freezing then you are being more specific about the temperature or you wish to suggest that it is bitterly cold, whatever the temperature.
Hermione Golightly
Senior Member
London British English When it's below freezing it is freezing weather. We also use 'freezing' to express that we feel very cold even if the temperature is not below freezing. It wasn't below freezing last night here in London, but it was the two previous nights, and cold enough for us to turn our heating up. Does that answer your question enough? Ssquirrel0215
New Member
KoreanBLUEGLAZE said: In casual conversation 'freezing' just means it is very cold (outside). When you say it's below freezing then you are being more specific about the temperature or you wish to suggest that it is bitterly cold, whatever the temperature. Click to expand...Thank you for your help! Happy new year =)
Hermione Golightly said: When it's below freezing it is freezing weather. We also use 'freezing' to express that we feel very cold even if the temperature is not below freezing. It wasn't below freezing last night here in London, but it was the two previous nights, and cold enough for us to turn our heating up. Does that answer your question enough? Click to expand...Thank you so much for your help! Happy new year ^^
Uncle Jack
Senior Member
Cumbria, UK British English I wonder if "below freezing" is used in AmE where BrE speakers might use "below zero", referring specifically to the temperature. Americans tend to use the Fahrenheit temperature scale, where water freezes at thirty-two degrees. I don't think I would use "below freezing" myself, and "freezing" could be used figuratively just to mean its cold (if I say "it's freezing outside" in June in England, then it is almost certain it is not literally freezing), or that there is frost and ice about, which again might mean that the air temperature is actually above zero, as it is right now where I am. "Below zero" is unambiguous.
JulianStuart
Senior Member
Sonoma County CA English (UK then US) We occasionally have freeze warnings in the (relatively warm) SF Bay area but they are very common in the colder parts of the US. If the context is a weather forecast, then freezing refers to 32°F An example from the National Weatherr Service Freeze warning - WikipediaFREEZING TEMPERATURES EXPECTED ACROSS NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE AREA LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY MORNING... .Temperatures are expected to drop to near or just below freezing across portions of interior southeast Mississippi and interior southwest Alabama late tonight into early Friday morning. Areas of frost will also be possible across the area during the same time period. Click to expand...A local one.
Sonoma County health officials issue Freeze Warning & Frost Advisory Temperatures expected from the mid-20s to 30 degrees overnight Click to expand...Source I recall a story, from a colleague who spent some time in Winnipeg in the winter, about "Frost warnings" where the conditions meant one's eyes would freeze over after two minutes outside. The relationship in the US to freezing is different from that in the UK (not just which temperature scale is used - very few °C show up here, outside scientific fields).The UK is kept "warm" by the Gulf Stream (e.g. Oxford's record low is still positive on the °F scale, while temperatures in the central US and Canada often go below zero on the °F scale: Minnesota's record low is -60°F! The imprecise meaning noted above is also common, meaning just very cold. Last edited: Jan 2, 2021
london calling
Senior Member
Salerno, Italy UK EnglishUncle Jack said: I wonder if "below freezing" is used in AmE where BrE speakers might use "below zero", referring specifically to the temperature. Americans tend to use the Fahrenheit temperature scale, where water freezes at thirty-two degrees. Click to expand...I use below freezing and below zero indifferently, personally, but I take your point that below zero is inaccurate if you're thinking in terms of the Fahrenheit temperature scale (which I don't and haven't done for many years).
Keith Bradford
Senior Member
Brittany, NW France English (Midlands UK) Using the Centigrade scale:- Freezing = between 2° and -2°, temperatures where water begins to freeze. Often a little * symbol appears on your car display when the actual temperature is still several degrees above zero, registering the fact that black ice can form on the road surface while the air is still a degree or two above.
- Below freezing = -1° or any other temperature down to -273.15: the lowest possible. We know that it's still below freezing by the fact that ice and snow don't melt.
Hildy1
Senior Member
English - US and Canada In my part of Canada (as in JulianStuart's story about Winnipeg), it would make perfect sense to say "It's below freezing, but it's not really cold." PPonyprof
Senior Member
Canadian English Where I live in the warmest part of Canada, the temperature will drop below 0 Celsius for a week or two at a time during the winter, rather randomly. It's important to know when that will happen because the taps and hoses at the horse barn will freeze and break unless we leave them dripping overnight. So we pay attention. Is it going to freeze tonight? Is it going below freezing tonight? These are fairly interchangeable. If you wanted to be more specific you might answer you might say "it's forecast to go down to zero by 3 am but warm up again when the sun rises" or "it's forecast to go down to minus ten celsius overnight and stay below freezing all day tomorrow."
kentix
Senior Member
English - U.S. The key point is things freeze at and below that point. There is no significant difference between ice at those different temperatures - ice is ice. Ice at 31°F and 30°F and 29°F is all the same. So if it gets down to freezing or several degrees below freezing, the important weather effects are essentially the same. Since weather is not completely predictable and varies slightly from place to place, even in the same area, whether it gets down to an exact temperature is unknown ahead of time. So you can say freezing or below freezing - either way ice will form. That's the expectation. When things move far below freezing then you can start adding more extreme adjectives. Weather report: Temperatures are expected to drop well below freezing tonight. Take precautions to protect your plants. When things start to get more extreme the situation changes. For instance, some plants that can tolerate a few hours of slightly below freezing temperatures might be killed by temperatures well below zero lasting all night. So it's important in some instances to note how far below freezing the temperatures are expected to go and for how long. kentix
Senior Member
English - U.S.Uncle Jack said: I wonder if "below freezing" is used in AmE where BrE speakers might use "below zero", referring specifically to the temperature. Americans tend to always use the Fahrenheit temperature scale (for everyday weather), where water freezes at thirty-two degrees. Click to expand...That hypothesis in the first sentence seems reasonable. Freezing is more descriptive than "32 degrees". We also say "below zero", but that's below zero on the Fahrenheit scale and that is much colder than freezing. That's dangerously cold at -18°C. Some days in some places that might be the high temperature.
JulianStuart said: temperatures in the central US and Canada often go below zero on the °F scale: Minnesota's record low is -60°F! Click to expand...That's -51°C. Last edited: Jan 3, 2021 You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link
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