Warming Stripes

Do you know about warming stripes? This is the image that's usually shown:

It's a visual representation of the increase in global average temperature. And here's the image mapped onto a German bus:

I thought the stripes were pretty well-known, especially among people who are aware of the climate crisis and are doing any kind of climate activism. But lately I've talked to a few different people at climate-related events who didn't know what the stripes mean, or had never even seen them.

So I'm doing my part here to further awareness. 

Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading created the stripes, and then he create a website (linked above) that has versions based on data for various locations around the world. Each stripe represents a year, starting on the left side (as early as 1850, depending on location) and so far ending on the right in 2024. 

The colors represent the annual variation from 0 to 0.9 degrees Celsius above (red) or below (blue) the 1961–2010 average temperature in each year. (In other words... the colors are already weighted toward the higher average baseline of the recent past.)

Hawkins' site doesn't have data for Minneapolis/Saint Paul. The closest city was Milwaukee, so here's that:

Check out your own location, or look at other places around the world. It's enlightening.