A decade of German heatwaves evident in social media data

Abstract

Heat is a global public health risk which kills many people every year. This is true even in temperate climates like that of Europe which has experienced an increasing number of intense heatwaves in the last decade. This study uses a unique dataset of more than 57,000 X (formerly Twitter) conversations from users in Germany about heatwaves over the period 2013 to 2022. Structural topic modelling revealed nine topics, with an increase in the number and diversity of topics since 2018, a year of unprecedented drought and heatwaves in Europe, including Germany. Before 2018, German tweets related to heatwaves primarily expressed concern about heatwaves on a global scale, such about wildfires in Australia. In 2015 there was brief spike tweets in which people began to comment on the local impacts of heat on their lives. Topics in 2015 included complaints about heat, air-conditioning shortages and heat-related train delays. From 2018, however, conversations have proliferated about local heat impacts and personal adaptations along with frequent heat warnings and advice on how to cope with and relieve heat. European droughts and wildfires also gained prominence from 2018 onwards, with concern about heat and drought shifting from being a problem outside Europe to one affecting many European countries, including those frequently visited by Germans as tourists.