I wish my parents had named me Santa. I would have been way more popular with kids at school.
I’m always baffled by how Santa keeps his cool on Christmas Eve. From minus 30 degrees at the North Pole to 110 degrees in the Australian Outback, Santa’s toughest job isn’t squeezing down chimneys, it’s thermal shock! There are online rumors that under Santa’s red velvet suit are NASA-grade phase-change materials. Must be true.
Despite mid-30s Wednesday and Thursday most spots will see a white(ish) Christmas. Metro highs may hit 40 degrees Friday and Saturday, the better day for travel (or holiday returns).
I see two holiday threats: The models I trust are consistently showing significant ice Thursday night up north: Brainerd and Walker to Duluth. Maybe a quarter inch of ice in some spots? Another polar slap arrives Sunday, with winds gusting to 40 mph and windchills of minus 20.
If Santa visits about 200 million homes over 31 hours around the world, physicists calculate he would need to travel at about 650 miles per second. Impressive.
