You seem to be well informed. I have no knowledge of what units are used formally, or in engineering or so, but often when I read news from the USA where measures are present, I find that they sometimes use the imperial units, and sometimes "the asteroid of the size of 5 football fields" or "a hole of the size of 4 washing machines opened in the road".

That being said, it's likely a journalism issue. Clickbaits matter more than accuracy. That unfortunately holds true not just for the USA..

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