MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With Christmas Eve just a few days away Santa will be getting ready for his big flight around the world. While things like rain and snow can impact how well he can see, the wind can actually help him along his journey.
When we look at our atmosphere, we can divide it into 3 main zones based off temperatures. The Tropical and Polar regions play a big role in creating what we call jet streams.
The jet stream forms at the interaction of these air masses due to pressure differences and the Earth’s rotation and acts like a highway for stronger winds.
Jet Streams are typically five to nine miles above the surface. When it comes to winds, the Polar Jet in particular can range anywhere from 100 to over 250 miles per hour.
This is great news for Santa because he can use these winds to travel faster around the globe.
In fact, airlines actually use this atmospheric feature regularly to cut on down flight times. Trans-Atlantic flights can sometimes reach over 600 miles per hour while flying through the jet stream.
If you left Memphis for Los Angeles, According to Delta.com, that flight would take you 4 hours and 25 minutes but returning back, the winds cut 37 mins off of the flight using the same airplane both ways.
Of course, while this helps Santa on his big flight bringing presents to all the children of the world, his magical reindeer have no problem traveling around the Earth each Christmas Eve.