These ‘warming stripe’ graphics are visual representations of the change in temperature as measured in each country, region or city over the past 100+ years. Each stripe or bar represents the temperature in that country, region or city averaged over a year. The stripes typically start around the year 1900 and finish in 2022, but for many countries, regions and cities the stripes start in the 19th century or sometimes even the 18th century.
These graphics are specifically designed to be as simple as possible, and to start conversations about our warming world and the risks of climate change. There are numerous other sources of information which provide more specific details about how temperatures have changed, so these graphics fill a gap and enable communication with minimal scientific knowledge required to understand their meaning. There are four different versions of the graphics available for each location with different details included, allowing anyone to pick which version fits their audience best.
The graphics have a CC-BY4.0 license, so can be used for any purpose as long as credit is given to Professor Ed Hawkins (University of Reading) and a link is provided to this website.
