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Christmas Eve 2017 Forecast: Snow, Rain, Santa

[CREDIT: NORAD] A look at NORAD's updated Santa Tracking website.

[CREDIT: NORAD] A look at NORAD's updated Santa Tracking website.
[CREDIT: NORAD] A look at NORAD’s updated Santa Tracking website.
WARWICK, RI — The National Weather Service forecasts snow and rain with a low temp of 31 degrees Christmas Eve in the city, where children may also join young people around the world watching with racing hearts and imaginations for St. Nick with NORAD’s Santa-tracking website and software.

Youngsters world-wide speculate  each year on the whereabouts of Kris Kringle as months of anticipation near their Christmas morning crescendo. NORAD, the The North American Aerospace Command,  has been helping them zero in on the Jolly Old Elf’s airborne sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, with Rudolph rounding out the nine Rangifer tarandus (their fancy Latin name) team, since 1955.

If you’re on the go yourself, you can keep tabs on the Santa with NORAD’s apps for Microsoft, for Google, and for Apple devices.

On Christmas Day, there’ll be more rain and snow mix and temperature of 38 degrees, with a chance of rain after noon. It’ll be a windy holiday, with wind  6 to 16 mph, and gusts up to 36 mph, the National Weather Service reports.

The 60-year-old tradition has grown over the years to include computer servers, web site design, video imaging, Santa’s tracking map, and telephone services, all of which are donated, according to NORAD.

Their tradition began with NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), according to NORAD’s brief online history of the practice. That year, a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. ad printed CONAD’s phone number as the one children should use to call Santa. The number put kids in touch with the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.”

Colonel Harry Shoup, director of operations at the time, ordered his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and the team continued doing so each year, even after Canada and the US created NORAD, the bi-national air defense command for North America.
Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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