A few days ago parts of Antarctica were more than 70 degrees warmer than average and in the Arctic were more than 50 degrees warmer. The Vostok station hit a shade above 0 degrees (-17.7 degrees Celsius), beating its all-time record by about 27 degrees (15 degrees Celsius). A fluke? Maybe, quite possibly not. The Antarctic continent as a whole on 3/18 was about 8.6 degrees (4.8 degrees Celsius) warmer than a baseline temperature between 1979 and 2000.
www.huffpost.com/entry/earth-poles-freak-heat_n_6235c953e4b0c727d47eca4b