PlotClimate is a project to visualize climate data, to show variation in temperature, sunlight, precipitation, and wind. The color of each pixel indicates a weather observation at a particular time. Time of day runs vertically (top to bottom), day of year horizontally. Plots can be used to compare climate between locations, or to observe climate change over time. Here are a few examples.
This image plots solar radiation, recorded in one of the cloudiest cities in the United States. The brightness of each pixel indicates the intensity of sunlight. Dark vertical bands show cloudy days of the year. Winter days are short at 47.5 degrees latitude.
At 43 degrees latitude, Madison, WI has longer winter days, and also fewer overcast days. (Not the same year as Seattle plot above, good data was not available.)
Temperature is indicated with color. In the wind plot, color shows the direction the wind is coming from; the darker the color, the faster the wind. (See key.)
| Temp | |
| |
| Wind | |
PlotClimate is a project of 
(revised 2013-06)