How to correctly plot four bar graphs in a 2x2 subplot

Question

I am trying to take four bar graphs and put them together in a 2x2 subplot. However, when I try to create the subplot it graphs four empty subplots first and then places the four bar graphs below it.

Here is the code I have been using.

fig, ((ax1, ax2), (ax3, ax4)) = plt.subplots(2,2, figsize = (20,15), sharex=True, sharey=True)
fig.suptitle('% Frequency Distribution of Daily Total Precipitation', fontsize = 45)

ax1 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x ='Precip Interval', y = 'Herbert Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Herbert Island Station')
ax2 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Sartine Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Sartine Island Station')
ax3 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Solander Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Solander Island Station')
ax4 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Quatsino % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Quatsino Station')

ax1.legend(loc = 'upper left', fontsize = 28)
ax2.legend(loc = 'upper left', fontsize = 28)
ax3.legend(loc = 'upper left', fontsize = 28)
ax4.legend(loc = 'upper left', fontsize = 28)

ax1.tick_params(axis = 'both', which = 'both', labelsize=25)
ax2.tick_params(axis = 'both', which = 'both', labelsize=25)
ax3.tick_params(axis = 'both', which = 'both', labelsize=25)
ax4.tick_params(axis = 'both', which = 'both', labelsize=25)
ax3.tick_params(axis = 'x', which = 'both', rotation = 35)
ax4.tick_params(axis = 'x', which = 'both', rotation = 35)

ax1.grid(linewidth = 0.5)
ax2.grid(linewidth = 0.5)
ax3.grid(linewidth = 0.5)
ax4.grid(linewidth = 0.5)
ax1.set_axisbelow(True)
ax2.set_axisbelow(True)
ax3.set_axisbelow(True)
ax4.set_axisbelow(True)



fig.text(0.5, 0.04, 'Daily Total Precipitation (mm/d)', ha='center', fontsize = 48)
fig.text(0.04, 0.5, 'Percentage Frequency (%)', va='center', rotation='vertical', fontsize = 48)
for ax in fig.get_axes():
    ax.label_outer()

And this is the output I get from running this code.

How can I make it so these four bar graphs are actually in the subplots and share the same x and y-axis? Any help is appreciated, thank you.

for your setup, section 2 of this [answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/68793513/7758804) is probably best. — Trenton McKinney, Sep 08 '21 at 20:20

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 08 '21 at 18:35

You need to specify the axis where you want to plot, so replace these lines:

ax1 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x ='Precip Interval', y = 'Herbert Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Herbert Island Station')
ax2 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Sartine Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Sartine Island Station')
ax3 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Solander Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Solander Island Station')
ax4 = ECobs_frequency.plot(x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Quatsino % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Quatsino Station')

with these ones:

ECobs_frequency.plot(ax = ax1, x ='Precip Interval', y = 'Herbert Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Herbert Island Station')
ECobs_frequency.plot(ax = ax2, x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Sartine Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Sartine Island Station')
ECobs_frequency.plot(ax = ax3, x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Solander Island % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Solander Island Station')
ECobs_frequency.plot(ax = ax4, x = 'Precip Interval', y = 'Quatsino % Frequency', kind="bar", width = 1, edgecolor = 'black', label = 'Quatsino Station')

Notice that in your code you are defining ax1, ax2, ax3 and ax4 in the first line, but you don't use them and you over-write them when you call ECobs_frequency.plot. Instead, you should pass the ax where you want to plot to plot as ax parameter.

How to correctly plot four bar graphs in a 2x2 subplot

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