Knoxville Weather, It’s cold … but it ain’t Texas
By: Jess Barfield
In Knoxville in February the average high temperature is 54.1°F. However, the hottest day on record was February 27, 1977 when the temperature hit 82.9°F. Anyone who has been outside lately knows we’re not anywhere near the high temperature, or even experiencing the average temperature. It could be worse though, it could be Texas where they’re in the midst of a deadly winter storm that has spread across southern and central parts of the United States bringing one in a generation frigid conditions.
As a result of the winter storms, more than 3.5 million people are without electricity in Texas (more than half the population of Tennessee!). Mother nature can definitely wreck havoc, with unintended consequences, for example, the storm disrupted the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine across Texas. Some say the frigid temperatures in Texas could be a consequence of global warming as there is research suggesting that Arctic warming is weakening the jet stream, the high-level air current that circles the northern latitudes and usually holds back the frigid polar vortex. And it’s not just people affected by the frigid temperatures, but so too are animals native to a warmer climate. For example, 3,500 sea turtles had to be rescued from the frigid temperatures in Texas!
But in all this bad news about the weather, Texans are suffering some other consequences such as concerns about water pressure and cleanliness due to the power outages within water purification plants. These concerns have forced the city of Houston to implement a city-wide boil water notice, which mandates that people boil their tap water before consumption if they have power, or to only consume bottled water.
Using the tools of the Adam Brown Social Media Command center, we see a massive increase in social media posts surrounding Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas, Texas’ three largest cities, over the past weeks raging from a 36% to 111% increase in posts compared to the previous week.
When reviewing posts with the keyword “Texas”, the most common words are seen in the word cloud below.
Here, we can see the most recurring words include “Ted” and “Cruz”. Referring to one of Texas’ senators, Ted Cruz (who flew off to a warmer Mexico). As well as “power” and “water”, both of which have been in shortage and have caused issues for many Texans.
We are sending our thoughts and best wishes to those affected by these storms in Texas, especially those UTK students, staff, and faculty who have loved ones in Texas.