A collaborative textile record of climate change: the Tempestry Project in Tampa, Florida, USA

In sub-tropical climates like Florida, with mild winters and hot summers and relatively uniform temperatures statewide (58 - 82 F, or 14 to 27°C on average), year-to-year changes might not be perceived as drastically as in other regions more impacted by the effects of climate change. Eight adjuncts, post-docs, staff, and faculty at the University of South Florida in Tampa contributed to a knitted, crocheted, and cross-stitched wall hanging illustrating daily temperature highs recorded in Tampa, Florida, from 1898 to 2018, at ten-year intervals. We used temperature data publicly available through the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's online datasets. We followed the color scheme and guidelines of the Tempestry Project (www.tempestryproject.com), allowing this project to be compared with other projects created worldwide, such as the National Park Tempestry Project . Challenges in such a project were to create uniform scales and appearances to illustrate temperature changes and trends clearly, while incorporating clearly distinct work from individual crafters. Our collection of tempestries create a visual representation of changing temperatures over time that is accessible and relatable to the broader community. The final project will be displayed in the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida, both physically and online to provide the public with a beautiful, accurate and relatable representation of the temperature record in Florida over >100 years.