title: Highcharts - change background color along specific date range
body: <p>Given a simple date-time(x) versus value(y) plot in highcharts, is it possible
  to change background-color, given 2 dates as ranges? In other words, each given range will
  define a 'rectangle' with some specific color.</p>
  
  <p>jsfiddle:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://jsfiddle.net/gh/get/jquery/1.9.1/highslide-software/highcharts.com/tree/master/samples/highcharts/demo/spline-irregular-time/" rel="noreferrer">http://jsfiddle.net/gh/get/jquery/1.9.1/highslide-software/highcharts.com/tree/master/samples/highcharts/demo/spline-irregular-time/</a></p>
  
  <p>Code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$(function () {
      $('#container').highcharts({
          chart: {
              type: 'spline'
          },
          title: {
              text: 'Snow depth in the Vikjafjellet mountain, Norway'
          },
          subtitle: {
              text: 'An example of irregular time data in Highcharts JS'
          },
          xAxis: {
              type: 'datetime',
              dateTimeLabelFormats: { // don't display the dummy year
                  month: '%e. %b',
                  year: '%b'
              }
          },
          yAxis: {
              title: {
                  text: 'Snow depth (m)'
              },
              min: 0
          },
          tooltip: {
              formatter: function() {
                      return '&lt;b&gt;'+ this.series.name +'&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;'+
                      Highcharts.dateFormat('%e. %b', this.x) +': '+ this.y +' m';
              }
          },
  
          series: [{
              name: 'Winter 2007-2008',
              // Define the data points. All series have a dummy year
              // of 1970/71 in order to be compared on the same x axis. Note
              // that in JavaScript, months start at 0 for January, 1 for February etc.
              data: [
                  [Date.UTC(1970,  9, 27), 0   ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 10, 10), 0.6 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 10, 18), 0.7 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11,  2), 0.8 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11,  9), 0.6 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11, 16), 0.6 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11, 28), 0.67],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0,  1), 0.81],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0,  8), 0.78],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0, 12), 0.98],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0, 27), 1.84],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1, 10), 1.80],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1, 18), 1.80],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1, 24), 1.92],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2,  4), 2.49],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2, 11), 2.79],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2, 15), 2.73],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2, 25), 2.61],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3,  2), 2.76],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3,  6), 2.82],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3, 13), 2.8 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  4,  3), 2.1 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  4, 26), 1.1 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  5,  9), 0.25],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  5, 12), 0   ]
              ]
          }, {
              name: 'Winter 2008-2009',
              color:'red',
              data: [
                  [Date.UTC(1970,  9, 18), 0   ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970,  9, 26), 0.2 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11,  1), 0.47],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11, 11), 0.55],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11, 25), 1.38],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0,  8), 1.38],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0, 15), 1.38],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1,  1), 1.38],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1,  8), 1.48],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1, 21), 1.5 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2, 12), 1.89],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2, 25), 2.0 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3,  4), 1.94],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3,  9), 1.91],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3, 13), 1.75],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3, 19), 1.6 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  4, 25), 0.6 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  4, 31), 0.35],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  5,  7), 0   ]
              ]
          }, {
              name: 'Winter 2009-2010',
              data: [
                  [Date.UTC(1970,  9,  9), 0   ],
                  [Date.UTC(1970,  9, 14), 0.15],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 10, 28), 0.35],
                  [Date.UTC(1970, 11, 12), 0.46],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0,  1), 0.59],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  0, 24), 0.58],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1,  1), 0.62],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1,  7), 0.65],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  1, 23), 0.77],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2,  8), 0.77],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2, 14), 0.79],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  2, 24), 0.86],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3,  4), 0.8 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3, 18), 0.94],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  3, 24), 0.9 ],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  4, 16), 0.39],
                  [Date.UTC(1971,  4, 21), 0   ]
              ]
          }]
      });
  });
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>thanks for any help!</p>