Reply #28: Hang on - you should be looking at the *increase* figure for what we're talking about now

[muriel_volestrangler]

ie "an 18 degree Celsius increase is a 32.4 degrees Fahrenheit increase"

Saying "15 degrees Celsius is 59 degrees Fahrenheit" is no more worrying than pointing out that 0 degrees Celsius is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It's just a statement of fact (perhaps I should have selected another example with number far away from the anomaly figures in the map, like "100 degrees Celsius is 212 degrees Fahrenheit").

The anomalies in the Antarctic are a comparison between 2 temperatures - like a change, or an increase. So the maximum anomaly shown on the map is 18 degrees Celsius - that is, 32.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Still worrying, but the thing the map shows is that, over a week, much of Antarctica was at least 32 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average for this time of year (which may mean, say, it was -20 Fahrenheit instead of -52 Fahrenheit).