Show your stripes 2023

This stark visual of ‘warming stripes’ created by Climate Scientist and Society Fellow, Professor Ed Hawkins (University of Reading) represents the average temperature for a single year relative to the average temperature over the period as a whole. The blue stripes show when the average temperatures have been below average and the red stripes when temperatures have been above average.

The image paints a very clear picture of how global average temperatures are rising rapidly, with the bars shifting from mostly blues to mostly reds.

Prof Hawkins created the stripes in 2018 and since then, they have been used globally to communicate the rapid rise in global temperatures that has been taking place in recent decades.

To mark this year’s ‘Show Your Stripes Day’, we have published our new policy position statement on climate change.

In it, we set out the implications of climate change on public health and give clear national and local recommendations for adaption and mitigation that will help to protect our health over the coming years.