Recreation of Tufte graphic in Python based on an Rstats blog post and gist http://asbcllc.com/blog/2015/January/gotham_2014_weather/ https://gist.github.com/abresler/46c36c1a88c849b94b07

tufte.py

import os
import calendar

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.ticker import FixedLocator, FixedFormatter
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns

to_colors = lambda x : x/255.

blue3 = map(to_colors, (24, 116, 205))  # 1874CD
wheat2 = map(to_colors, (238, 216, 174))  # EED8AE
wheat3 = map(to_colors, (205, 186, 150))  # CDBA96
wheat4 = map(to_colors, (139, 126, 102))  # 8B7E66
firebrick3 = map(to_colors, (205, 38, 38))  # CD2626
gray30 = map(to_colors, (77, 77, 77))  # 4D4D4D

if not os.path.exists("tufte.csv"):
    dta = pd.read_table("http://academic.udayton.edu/kissock/http/"
                        "Weather/gsod95-current/NYNEWYOR.txt", sep=" *",
                        names=["month", "day", "year", "temp"])
    dta.to_csv("tufte.csv", index=False)
else:
    dta = pd.read_csv("tufte.csv")


def calc_summary_stats(x):
    lower = x.min()
    upper = x.max()
    avg = x.mean()
    std_err = x.std()/np.sqrt(len(x))
    ci_upper = avg + 2.101 * std_err
    ci_lower = avg - 2.101 * std_err
    return pd.DataFrame.from_dict(dict(lower=lower, upper=upper,
                                       avg=avg, std_err=std_err,
                                       ci_upper=ci_upper, ci_lower=ci_lower)
                                  )

dta.set_index(pd.to_datetime(dta.year*10000 + dta.month*100 + dta.day,
              format="%Y%m%d"), inplace=True)
dta = dta[["temp"]].query("temp != -99")

past = dta.query("index < 2014")
grouped = past.groupby(past.index.map(lambda x : (x.month, x.day)))
past_stats = grouped.apply(calc_summary_stats)
past_stats.set_index(past_stats.index.droplevel(1), inplace=True)

present = dta.query("index >= 2014")
grouped = present.groupby(present.index.map(lambda x : (x.month, x.day)))
presentlows = grouped.temp.min()
presentlows = presentlows.ix[presentlows <
                             past_stats.ix[presentlows.index].lower]

presenthighs = grouped.temp.max()
presenthighs = presenthighs.ix[presenthighs >
                               past_stats.ix[presenthighs.index].upper]

idx = range(len(past_stats))
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(20, 8), subplot_kw={'axisbg': 'white'},
                       facecolor='white')

# plot the high-low bars
ax.vlines(idx, past_stats.lower, past_stats.upper, color=wheat3, alpha=.9,
          linewidth=1.5, zorder=-1)
# plot the confidence interval around the means
ax.vlines(idx, past_stats.ci_lower, past_stats.ci_upper, linewidth=1.5,
          color=wheat4, zorder=-1)
# plot the present year time-series
ax.plot(present, color='k', zorder=10)

# plot the highs and lows of the present year
x_highs = np.where(past_stats.index.isin(presenthighs.index))[0]
# adjust for no leap day in 2014
x_highs -= 1
ax.plot(x_highs, presenthighs, 'ro')
x_lows = np.where(past_stats.index.isin(presentlows.index))[0]
# adjust for leap day
x_lows[9:] -= 1
ax.plot(x_lows, presentlows, 'bo')


# plot the made-up 2014 range. don't know what this was supposed to show.
ax.vlines(idx[len(idx) // 2 + 2], -5, 30, linewidth=15, color=wheat2)
ax.vlines(idx[len(idx) // 2 + 2], 3, 19, linewidth=15, color=wheat4)
ax.errorbar(len(idx) // 2 + 7, 9, yerr=6, capsize=4, capthick=1,
            color='black')
ax.text(len(idx) // 2 + 8, 9, "Normal Range", verticalalignment='center')
ax.text(len(idx) // 2 + 7, 30, "Record High")
ax.text(len(idx) // 2 + 7, -5, "Record Low", verticalalignment='top')
ax.text(len(idx) // 2 - 1, 9, "2014 Temperature",
        horizontalalignment='right')

##############
## text data
#
ax.annotate("We had 30 days that were the\ncoldest since 1995",
            xy=(x_lows[4], presentlows[4]), xytext=(50, -45),
            textcoords='offset points', arrowprops=dict(facecolor='blue',
                                                        width=2,
                                                        headwidth=0,
                                                        frac=0,
                                                        shrink=.05),
            color='blue', horizontalalignment='left')

ax.annotate("We had 5 days that were the\nhottest since 1995",
            xy=(x_highs[0], presenthighs[0]), xytext=(0, 40),
            textcoords='offset points', arrowprops=dict(facecolor='red',
                                                        width=2,
                                                        headwidth=0,
                                                        frac=0,
                                                        shrink=.05),
            color='red', horizontalalignment='center')

ax.text(69, 94, u"Data represents average daily temperatures. Accessible "
        "data dates back to\nJanuary 1, 1975. Data for 2014 is only "
        "available through December 16.\nAverage temperature for"
        u" the year was 54.8\u00b0 making 2014 the 6th coldest\nyear"
        "since 1995", verticalalignment='top', horizontalalignment='center')

##############
## formatting
#
yticks = range(-10, 101, 10)
ax.yaxis.set_ticks(yticks)
ylabels = [str(i) + u"\u00b0" for i in yticks]
ax.yaxis.set_ticklabels(ylabels, fontsize=14)
ax.yaxis.grid(color='white', zorder=1)

xticks = past.groupby(past.index.month).apply(lambda x : x.index.day.max()
                                              ).cumsum().values
ax.xaxis.set_ticks(xticks)

left_spine = ax.spines['left']
left_spine.set_visible(True)
left_spine.set_color(wheat4)
left_spine.set_linewidth(2)

xticks = np.r_[0, xticks]
minor_xticks = (xticks[1:] + xticks[:-1])/2
ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(FixedLocator(minor_xticks))
ax.xaxis.set_minor_formatter(FixedFormatter(calendar.month_name[1:]))
ax.xaxis.set_ticklabels([])
ax.xaxis.grid(color=wheat3, linestyle='dotted')

ax.set_title(" New York City's Weather in 2014", loc="left",
             fontsize=23)
ax.text(2, 97, " Temperature in Fahrenheit", fontsize=15,
        fontdict=dict(weight='bold'))

ax.set_xlim(0, len(idx))
ax.set_ylim(-10, 100)
fig.savefig("tufte.svg")

tufte.svg