For comparison, when Boston got record snow and everybody froze to death in early 2015, the temperature was:
> ... the average temperature [of Boston] in February [2015] was 19.0 °F (−7.2 °C), which was 12.7 °F (7.1 °C) below the 1981–2010 normal, making it the second-coldest month of any month all-time, behind February 1934.
So the average temperature in Feb 2015 was 266K, only 2.6% below the normal value of 273K. Sheesh.
Measuring change in absolute percentage is misleading, when your chance of survival strongly depends on it being in a narrow prescribed range.
(You die if your body temperature increases by 2%.)
> ... the average temperature [of Boston] in February [2015] was 19.0 °F (−7.2 °C), which was 12.7 °F (7.1 °C) below the 1981–2010 normal, making it the second-coldest month of any month all-time, behind February 1934.
So the average temperature in Feb 2015 was 266K, only 2.6% below the normal value of 273K. Sheesh.
Measuring change in absolute percentage is misleading, when your chance of survival strongly depends on it being in a narrow prescribed range.
(You die if your body temperature increases by 2%.)