Carbon copy Royal Weddings!

Royal Weddings and Climate Change

Data journalist, Climate Central - David Kroodsma

At Climate Central, we are excited about the Royal Wedding not because it's an opportunity to fawn over the wealthy and powerful, but because of history. And not just because of history like the fact Queen Victoria was the first to popularize white wedding dresses when she donned one for her marriage to King Albert in 1840.

We are excited because in central England, where Prince William and Kate Middleton wed today, people have directly measured temperature for longer than anywhere else in the world. Ever since 1659 — more than a century before the U.S. Revolutionary war — scientists have continuously taken thermometer readings in this region of England. This data set has been compiled by the Met Office of the Hadley Center, and it represents the average temperature across a triangular area of the U.K. between Bristol, Lancashire, and London.

For most places on earth, weather data stretches back only a few decades. In central England, we have three and a half centuries of directly measured climate data.

Below we’ve plotted the average yearly temperature in Central England, and also marked Royal Weddings over the centuries. Click on a wedding to see what that year’s climate was like in Central England. Please note, we are not implying any relationship between Royal Weddings and climate change! In fact, you'll see that the weddings are quite out of sync with the warming trend.

Chaser's Note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOjnLATfAs&NR=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOjnLATfAs&NR=1