Weather Watch: Tracking Santa Claus

Weather Watch

Christmas is already an exciting and special time for kids. The lights, the food, the presents and of course Santa Claus! For centuries this ageless man has travelled the world bringing joy to so many kids, and adults I might add, every December 25. To this day I still can’t figure out how he does it all in just one night; it must be just that spirit of Christmas magic!

When I was a kid I always thought it was so cool when the weatherman was able to tell me where Santa was by using the weather radar. This was just an added bonus of the already exciting evening. After all, if NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) thinks it’s important to track Santa–and they do every year–then I need to do it as well.

Tracking Santa on the radar can be very tricky. Radar can be sensitive enough to pick up birds, planes and even humidity, so the reflectivity return has to be looked at very closely. After all, we are talking about flying reindeer here!

With advances in satellite and radar technology, we can now actually see when the sleigh takes off and lands. A long time ago we only saw a “blip” on the screen moving out of Canada at a very fast speed. Communications have also gotten more advanced.

Several years ago I was able to get Santa’s direct home phone number. I called him the day before Christmas and did a phone interview with him before he set out that night. I got to ask him which THV anchors were on the naughty or nice list and he even told me he was bringing Craig O Neill a new pair of underwear for Christmas. Now, Santa carries a smart phone and I hope I can call him directly on his sleigh this year. If not, the GPS in his phone will tell me exactly where he is!

Whenever I have to work on Christmas Eve, I always track Santa. This year will be no different. I have Santa Scope on my weather computer and combined with Doppler I will clearly be able to see St. Nick as he enters Arkansas air space. It’s odd, but he always seems to get to Arkansas right before 10:30pm, which is when our newscast usually ends. This is valuable information because it almost always gets the kids to bed and as you know, Santa can’t enter a house if the children are still awake.

So while I’m watching for Santa this Christmas Eve, rest assured he’s probably watching you as well. He’s always watching you and he always knows who’s bad or good. You can’t hide, and neither can he!

About Santa’s Home

There is of course only one Santa Claus, but there are really two North Poles, a geographic North Pole and a magnetic North Pole.  The magnetic North Pole is the point where the magnetic field lines are vertical and enter the earth. The earth acts as a giant magnet with the poles close to where our axis of rotation is, but not quite there.  It is believed–although not know for certain–that the magnetic field of the earth is caused by currents of charged particles deep in the core.

The magnetic poles wander a bit year to year.  It is believed that the magnetic poles have switched many times during the history of the earth.  This has been inferred by looking at the orientation of magnetic particles in the rocks around the places where the sea floor is spreading.  Currently the magnetic pole is about 600 miles from the geographical pole.

The geographical pole is the point at 90° northern latitude. It is very near to the point at which the rotation axis of the earth passes through the surface. This is the North Pole that is shown on most maps.