CEO Michael Jordan:

For the last year and a half, the TPI team has been aggregating data from various theme parks to test out a new tracking and trending system we are developing. Our goal is to be able to create an algorithm that takes into account the weather forecast. This will allow parks to adapt and adjust staffing and park services accordingly, potentially saving parks thousands of dollars in otherwise lost revenue . This has been a five year project for TPI involving numerous parks around the country. In June of this year we started noticing weird trends in the weather data from Six Flags over Texas. Two things consistently stood out, the temperature and the weather patterns. The temperature was always eight or more degrees hotter than the surrounding area, and when it rained, storms always seemed to linger and intensify over the park. We checked and triple checked instruments, and verified temperatures using different types of thermometers and sources of radar images. The instruments weren’t wrong, there really was something weird going on.

Late one night after pouring over the data for the hundredth time, I asked myself “What has changed in the park in the last year?”. The only thing that was added was the Glow in the Park parade. And then it hit me. The audio for the parade is synced up using encoders buried in the concrete, they would have had to tear up the concrete to lay the electronics in the ground. After the install Six Flags resurfaced most of the concrete in the park with a thin layer of black tar. The color black absorbs the light energy emitted from the sun, unlike white which reflects heat. The entire park has turned into a giant convection oven, which is in turn heating up the surrounding atmosphere. When the hot air rising passes over colder air it condenses. When this happens violently it produces thunderstorms. Or in this case, intensifies ones already in the area.

The problem goes much deeper then just affecting local weather patterns. The increased temperatures could cause the park to see an increase in guest dehydration and heat exhaustion cases. This would no doubt culminate in financial losses at the ticket booths as result of increased rain days or heatwaves.