This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/mar/22/weather-worse-coalition-government
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Is the weather worse under the Coalition government? | Is the weather worse under the Coalition government? |
| (6 months later) | |
| Is it possible that David Cameron's Britain is a colder place than Tony Blair's? Or one with less sunshine? Well, maybe. | Is it possible that David Cameron's Britain is a colder place than Tony Blair's? Or one with less sunshine? Well, maybe. |
| For those who feel that the UK is turning - like Narnia under the White Witch - into a land where it is "always winter and never Christmas" we wondered how the weather has changed under this government - and how it compares to previous parties in power. | For those who feel that the UK is turning - like Narnia under the White Witch - into a land where it is "always winter and never Christmas" we wondered how the weather has changed under this government - and how it compares to previous parties in power. |
| The Met Office handily publishes monthly averages for sunshine, rainfall and temperature on its site. So we took the data and performed a crude analysis on it to work out the difference for each month of each Prime Ministers' rule compared to the ten year average before they took power. So if the average of every July that a government was in power was higher - or lower - than the average of the decade before they got in, we thought that might be interesting. | The Met Office handily publishes monthly averages for sunshine, rainfall and temperature on its site. So we took the data and performed a crude analysis on it to work out the difference for each month of each Prime Ministers' rule compared to the ten year average before they took power. So if the average of every July that a government was in power was higher - or lower - than the average of the decade before they got in, we thought that might be interesting. |
| This is how that data looks. It appears that under David Cameron it has been colder, and less sunny - but there has been less rainfall too. Under Tony Blair, there was more sunshine and warmer temperatures than the decade before - but more rain. Margaret Thatcher saw a lot more rain and less sunshine - and Gordon Brown saw more sun but colder termperatures. | This is how that data looks. It appears that under David Cameron it has been colder, and less sunny - but there has been less rainfall too. Under Tony Blair, there was more sunshine and warmer temperatures than the decade before - but more rain. Margaret Thatcher saw a lot more rain and less sunshine - and Gordon Brown saw more sun but colder termperatures. |
| So, how do the different types of weather break down? | So, how do the different types of weather break down? |
| So the averages for almost every month that David Cameron has been prime minister are colder than for the ten years before he came to power - the exceptions being March and April (although that may change when the data for this month comes in). August, for instance was 0.81C colder than the average for all the Augusts in the ten years before he became Prime Minister. | So the averages for almost every month that David Cameron has been prime minister are colder than for the ten years before he came to power - the exceptions being March and April (although that may change when the data for this month comes in). August, for instance was 0.81C colder than the average for all the Augusts in the ten years before he became Prime Minister. |
| The summers appear to be less sunny under the coalition too with cloudier August and July. Although rainfall, especially in the summer, is lower too. | The summers appear to be less sunny under the coalition too with cloudier August and July. Although rainfall, especially in the summer, is lower too. |
| And for those who are already making lists of things that could be wrong with the analysis, we're way ahead of you: It doesn't take account of climate change happening anyway; PMs in power for shorter periods (ie, Gordon Brown and John Major) will have less variability in the weather anyway, compared to Blair and Thatcher, each in power for over a decade. There are probably many other reasons not to do the analysis - but the data we used is in the spreadsheet below. Check it out - and let us know what you can do with it. | And for those who are already making lists of things that could be wrong with the analysis, we're way ahead of you: It doesn't take account of climate change happening anyway; PMs in power for shorter periods (ie, Gordon Brown and John Major) will have less variability in the weather anyway, compared to Blair and Thatcher, each in power for over a decade. There are probably many other reasons not to do the analysis - but the data we used is in the spreadsheet below. Check it out - and let us know what you can do with it. |
| Download the data | Download the data |
| • DATA: download the full spreadsheet • SOURCE: Met Office | • DATA: download the full spreadsheet • SOURCE: Met Office |
| NEW! Buy our book | NEW! Buy our book |
| • Facts are Sacred: the power of data | • Facts are Sacred: the power of data |
| More open data | More open data |
| Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian | Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian |
| World government data | World government data |
| • Search the world's government data with our gateway | • Search the world's government data with our gateway |
| Development and aid data | Development and aid data |
| • Search the world's global development data with our gateway | • Search the world's global development data with our gateway |
| Can you do something with this data? | Can you do something with this data? |
| • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk | • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk |
| • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook | • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |
Previous version
1
Next version