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I find it extremely odd that at no point does this article make any reference to the actual temperature, aside from saying that things froze.
by arbitrage 9y ago
I find it extremely odd that at no point does this article make any reference to the actual temperature, aside from saying that things froze.
- owenversteeg 9y agoHonestly, giving temperature measurements might not have made the article better. An average temperature might not matter - the brief pockets of severe cold do the most damage. Lows and highs are fine, but then where do you calculate that over? The lowest temperature for all of France? You'll get a handful of outliers killing your data. Additionally, temperature as it is felt is very dependent on how prepared people are and the wind and the moisture. Just a raw number might not do it. Ultimately, I think there probably exists some sort of statistical measure to measure the temperature "fairly" over a long period, but I doubt it's simple enough to use in the article.
- arbitrage 9y agoThat make sense. When I was trying to find actual data, I did find a number of reports of temperature, and some days the temp was well over freezing. +5C°, I think. I eventually found another article, which appeared to be calculating number of days below freezing in a specific season, and that was the number that was out of whack. I think you're right. Purposefully excluding raw temperature figures can prevent people from jumping to the 'well, it wasn't that cold' conclusion.