A massive cross-country winter storm that is expected to stick around for much of the holiday weekend won’t be keeping Santa Claus and his reindeer crew from visiting, according to Transport Canada and the U.S. military agency known for tracking Saint Nick’s global travels.
In a press release Saturday, Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra cleared Santa and his crew for take-off in Canadian airspace.
Santa and his reindeer have shown no signs of COVID-19 before take-off, Alghabra said.
“When I spoke to Santa, he assured me that everything was ready to deliver gifts to Canadian children,” said Algharba.
NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is also responsible for monitoring and defending the skies above North America, have confirmed as well that Santa’s travels won’t be impacted by COVID-19 or the weather.
Their NORAD Tracks Santa service, which allows people to follow his Christmas journey through its noradsanta.org website, social media channels and mobile app, is also up and running.
The agency this year plans to have about 1,500 volunteers working on Christmas Eve to field phone calls from children who want to know Santa’s location and delivery schedule.
“I think Santa will be right at home with the Arctic weather that’s hitting into the lower 48 (Fahrenheit),” said Lt. General David Nahom, a NORAD official based in Anchorage, Alaska.
NORAD’s holiday tradition began in 1955 after a kid mistakenly called a Colorado military command asking to speak to Santa. More calls came in, so the commander on duty assigned an officer to answer the Santa calls, and the tradition took hold.
“According to our research, he should be (in Canada) between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.,” a NORAD Santa Tracker told Global News.
By 3:30 p.m. ET, Santa had already delivered over 3 billion gifts and counting.
NORAD’s intelligence indicates Santa is at least 16 centuries old. NORAD also concludes that Santa probably stands around five foot seven inches and weighs roughly 260 pounds – before cookies.
“Based on fighter-aircraft photos, we know he has a generous girth (belly), rosy cheeks from sleigh riding in cold weather, and a flowing white beard,” NORAD says.
And despite the centuries of flying around the world delivering presents, Santa has never hit anything, according to NORAD.
“He must be a great pilot,” they say.
-With files from The Associated Press