Minimax

The Winter maximum of Arctic sea ice extent this year seems to have been the lowest in modern era, that is, since satellites made possible accurate measurements (starting in 1979). I am a bit bemused by the difficulty headline writers and newsreaders have had reporting the slightly complicated idea of the minimum of a bunch of maxima. The NPR story I heard made it sound like Arctic sea ice was at a minimum during the dead of winter.

Here is the NYT: "Arctic’s Winter Sea Ice Drops to Its Lowest Recorded Level"

Uhh, not exactly. It was lower a couple of weeks ago and will be lower (very likely) in another couple of weeks.

Math is hard - Barbie.

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