Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Few_Memory5631 t1_j3cmv5h wrote

Can anyone explain the temperature key/coloring? Shouldn’t 0 C be at the same position as 32 F?

11

PhallableBison t1_j3cnzfh wrote

It appears that the colors represent the difference between the Jan 1 temperature and the average temperature 1991-2020 for January. I was confused at first too, there shouldn’t be 20C temps in the arctic circle.

17

sdbernard OP t1_j3conme wrote

Exactly this, it's a temperature anomaly map. This shows the temperature difference from the long term average (1992-2020). It's much more effective than a normal temperature map because you don't have to be familiar with what normal temperatures should be in each region to understand how unusual they are

11

threedotsonedash t1_j3f43on wrote

Can you explain the color choices for the gradient, why are you using a seemingly intentionally more rich color pallet & depth for +20*c vs a very muted blue for -20*c?

Did the data alone not paint the fiery globe image you wanted to project? You may as well have manipulated the data.

This is not beautiful data, it is a subjective abuse of color to paint a story the data alone didn't tell.

7

Rbot25 t1_j3col67 wrote

It displays the difference in temperature between this year and the mean over 1990 to 2020. It is not the temperature of the places. Since we are computing a difference if the temperature this time was the same as the previous ones the difference would be zero being it Celsius or Fahrenheit, and since Fahrenheit increases faster than Celsius they don't have the same value when the difference in temperature is different from zero.

3