Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel Tuesday, 15 November 2011 13:15 Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 February 2012 12:02 Written by Mark Whitworth Instructions for Making a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Office Excel These instructions are intended to enable school students to create a climate graph, climatograph, or temperature and rainfall chart, using Microsoft Office 2007 Excel. I will not claim it is the slickest method but it is simple and it does work. There are other versions of these instructions out there so you can pick and chose as to which one suits you. Click on this link to find the instructions for creating a population pyramid in Microsoft Office Excel. Please feel free to post comments; I will use them to make improvements. Click on "read more" to find out how to produce this Excel climate graph!

1. Put your climate data into an Excel chart like this one.

2. Highlight the data, including the headers like this:

3. Select “Insert”, (then “Charts”), then “Column” and then the first graph showing under “2-D Column”.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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4. You now have a bar or column chart showing temperature and rainfall but there are several things missing or wrong; these need to be corrected.

5. Select “Layout”, “Labels” then “Chart Title”.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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6. I would suggest you choose to put the title above the chart; choose “Above Chart”. The graph will now display a heading of “Chart Title”, which can be amended to include your chosen title. To ensure there is a good fit the text size can be altered.

7. Now right click on one of the blue bars and select “Change Series Chart Type” then select the first graph under “Line” and click “OK”.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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8. Your chart now has the temperature as a line, although usually this is displayed in red. Right click on the line and select “Format Data Series”, then then “Line Colour”, then “Solid Line” and choose an appropriate colour before clicking “Close”.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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9. Now right click on one of the rainfall bars, select “Format Data Series”, then select “Fill”, then”Solid Fill”, then “Colour” and choose an appropriate colour before clicking “Close”.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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10. Now we need to create the axis for the temperature because the left hand axis only shows the rainfall scale. Right click on the temperature line, select “Format Data Series”, then select “Secondary Axis” and then “Close”.

11. Your graph now needs labels on the horizontal axis. Select “Labels”, then “Axis Titles”, then “Primary Horizontal Axis Title” and “Title Below Axis”.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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12. The graph now displays “Axis Title” below the Months and you can type in the word Months. 13. You will repeat the exercise for the vertical axes, the left hand one is known as the primary axis. Select “Labels”, then “Axis Titles”, then “Primary Vertical Axis Title” and “Rotated Title”.

14. The graph now displays “Axis Title” on the left and you can type in the word Rainfall but remember to add (millimetres). 15. For the right hand, or secondary vertical axis, select “Labels”, then “Axis Titles”, then “Secondary Vertical Axis Title” and “Rotated Title”.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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16. The graph now displays “Axis Title” on the right and you can type in the word Temperature but remember to add (°C or Celsius). 17. Your graph now looks like this, which is OK, but you might like to tidy it up a bit.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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18. The graph below shows certain changes made by clicking on various parts of the graph and moving things around. When you click on various boxes you can change font size and so on. I am not including the instructions for these design changes, it is best to learn them for yourself.

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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19. There is one thing missing and it is very, very important. Nearly all graphs should display the source of the information on the graph itself. This does not have to be a full reference, this should be found in your bibliography, but the name of the organisation from which the data was obtained. To do this click on part of the graph, select “Insert”, then “Text Box”, use your cursor to position the textbox on the graph and type on the desired information.

20. My final graph looks like this:

21. If you really want to impress people you need never go through all this again. If you save your work you can simply change the data and your climate graph may be used over and over! You will have to file it well and remember to change the titles and sources but other than that you can sit back and become a climate graph expert by coaching your fellow students! 22. Remember that by using the information provided on this website you should include this website in your bibliography. The MLA reference style for this is as follows and can be copied and pasted if you wish: Whitworth, Mark. “Instructions for Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Office Excel”, Marque My Words. 2011. date accessed xx/xx/xxxx, www.marquemywords.co.uk Comments (10)

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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10. Wednesday, 30 May 2012 10:43 (Patrick F.) Thank you. I have been in iWorks too long. I appreciate the help. 9. Monday, 14 May 2012 10:17 (Nadia) this was extreeeeemly helpful, thank you soo soo soo much! this was a life saver :P God Bless :) 8. Monday, 07 May 2012 12:29 (Ahuzam Adam Maldives (REALLY!)) Thanks mark, you saved my Social Studies Project 7. Thursday, 12 April 2012 05:49 (Sohail) thanks a lot for this guide, i was looking how to add secondary vertical axis for a long time, you solved my problem. thanks Comments (2) 6. Tuesday, 03 April 2012 20:00 (I like cake!) Thanks a lot man!!! This really helped me!!! I don't know what i would have done without this!!! Thanks again! 5. Sunday, 19 February 2012 11:07 (Me (no really...)) lol. the second I posted my comment I found your explaination! You're a miracle worker and I'll make sure to list your site as one of my sources. 4. Sunday, 19 February 2012 11:04 (Me (no really...)) Thank you sooooo much for this. I've just spent the past hour trying to understand explanations that could not explain with the efficiency that you did. You've officially saved my geography project. Now if only I could figure out how to make an age pyramid with predictions for 2050... 3. Tuesday, 07 February 2012 03:47 (Mark) Thank you, Paula. You probably won't appreciate how much your comment meant to me; if I helped just one student I know it was all worthwhile. In fact there's probably 500 odd it's helped so far but they didn't let me know! Thank you, Mark 2. Monday, 06 February 2012 13:15 (Paula) Thank you Mark, you just saved our 12 year olds Middle School project. We were trying to figure out how to do this chart and either the teacher did not send home enough instructions or our little miss did not bring everything home. Plus, the SuperBowl (silly USA football game, w/our team in the big game) was on and we didn't want to spend hours trying to figure this out. Your site saved us and we added an extra text box for your source info, as well as adding to bibliogrpahy. Thank you (and I printed a color copy to keep forever! ) 1. Monday, 21 November 2011 01:52 (Danny Z) Cool!

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Creating a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Excel

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