Tracking Social Media Conversations On Extreme Weather Discussion: A Longitudinal Analysis

With the increasing number of extreme weather events and various disasters, people are paying more attention to environmental issues than ever, particularly global warming. Public debate on it has grown on various platforms, including newspapers and social media. This study examines emotions of the general public on global warming in the context of extreme weather events, how emotions differ by location and the change of emotion on those topics over the time. Topic modeling is used to reveal dominant topics for each type of extreme weather. The results show that discussions on Twitter predominantly focus on floods and drought/heatwaves. There has been a consistent increase in Twitter conversations about extreme weather over recent years. Emotion analysis indicates that sadness, followed by anger, are the most prevalent emotions in discussions about various extreme weather events. Topic modeling reveals major topics in extreme weather focus on their escalating intensity and the resulting environmental, social, and emotional impacts. Additionally, these conversations often involve debates, skepticism, and considerations of risks associated with climate change/global warming.