This holiday season started off as normally as it could. But then. The super-winter-weather-bomb cyclone event named Elliot (like a winter Hurricane) – the swooping down of the Arctic Vortex like this has caused havoc for millions of people this holiday:
So, as you might expect, this is doing a big number on the US power-grid. Thanks to the tracking by the good folks at United States Power Outage Map – you can see for yourself at any given moment. Today’s winners are North Carolina, Tennessee, and Maine, with South Carolina and New York as runner-ups. Our famous Texas ERCOT grid, which promised full capacity is apparently still not there yet – oops. To be fair, part of Texas is actually in the MISO grid, but you would never hear the “dear gubner of Texas” say that out loud.
An important bit of research was published in September of 2021 in Science Magazine Linking Arctic variability and change with extreme winter weather in the United States | Science – with an explanatory infographic that tells the historical story of the Arctic and the influence of the big melting that is causing the shifts.
So, where is Santa in all this?
Again, Google’s Santa Tracker gives us the view of where Santa is at the given moment on Christmas Eve having already begun his journey over 24 hours ago… Looks like he is over Russia at this hour. We’re not going to explain why “Vladdie P” isn’t getting a visit. That’s just obvious. But all the good children will certainly have the magic of Christmas wherever possible. Let’s hope that Santa encounters no issues as he works his way west to complete his journey! He has lots of experience, so we would expect that he knows the ropes, despite the climate change woes.
For us here, it is small gatherings with family and friends. Colder than usual. No precipitation. Just riding the waves of memories of Christmases past and per my usual I hope for Peace on Earth and for people to get along better than they have been of late (and I’m talking about the whole wide world, not that I’m doing anything but feeding my hopes into some sort of pleading prayer stream…).
I am moved to write when I get to this time of year. Lots of the flowing memories and anxieties that come with the celebration of what this is all about.
I am thankful for the gifts of the people in my life. For those who have left us, I am grateful that at least I had them in my life for the period of time that was meant to be a part of my role in this ongoing theater of life on Planet Earth. I am missing my people who are not here. Every year I miss them all the time. Guess this is just part of living…
