diff --git a/ungrib/src/g2print.F b/ungrib/src/g2print.F
index caebcf8bc..1d33a3567 100644
--- a/ungrib/src/g2print.F
+++ b/ungrib/src/g2print.F
@@ -562,7 +562,7 @@ SUBROUTINE r_grib2(junit, gribflnm, hdate,  &
               endif
 
               ! Scale lat/lon values to 0-180, default range is 1e6.
-              if (map%lat1.ge.scale_factor) then 
+              if (abs(map%lat1).ge.scale_factor) then 
                  map%lat1 = map%lat1/scale_factor
               endif
               if (map%lon1.ge.scale_factor) then 
diff --git a/ungrib/src/rd_grib2.F b/ungrib/src/rd_grib2.F
index 14291b1dc..2b6d8d80f 100644
--- a/ungrib/src/rd_grib2.F
+++ b/ungrib/src/rd_grib2.F
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ SUBROUTINE rd_grib2(junit, gribflnm, hdate,
               endif
 
               ! Scale lat/lon values to 0-180, default range is 1e6.
-              if (map%lat1.ge.scale_factor) then 
+              if (abs(map%lat1).ge.scale_factor) then
                  map%lat1 = map%lat1/scale_factor
               endif
               if (map%lon1.ge.scale_factor) then