The massive winter storm enveloping much of the United States is poised to produce the coldest Christmas Eve on record across much of the Eastern Seaboard.
Summary
The massive winter storm enveloping much of the United States is poised to produce the coldest Christmas Eve on record across much of the Eastern Seaboard.
- Nearly 250 million Americans and Canadians are experiencing icy temperatures, extreme cold and winds and blinding snow. Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and western New York are experiencing “near white-out conditions” from the storm linked to at least 19 deaths so far.
- The temperature in Pittsburgh is expected to top out at just 8 degrees Fahrenheit, surpassing the previous record of 13 degrees set in 1983. Tallahassee and Atlanta are also expected to record their coldest Christmas Eve’s ever, while Washington D.C. is set for the coldest since 1906.
- PJM Interconnection, a Pennsylvania-based utility operator that serves 65 million people, warned customers in 13 states to conserve energy and take precautions as the power grid is buffeted by the massive storm, making power plants difficult to operate.
- The House of Representatives closed out the 117th Congress on Friday by passing a colossal $1.7 trillion omnibus funding package. Most lawmakers had already skipped town, however, taking advantage of pandemic-era proxy voting rules to start their holiday break early.
- One locale spared the Christmas cold is the biblical town of Bethlehem. Tourism is set to rebound this year after pandemic-era restrictions limited visitors to the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Hundreds of people attended Christmas Eve celebrations in Manger Square as pilgrims returned to visit the Holy Places and celebrate Midnight Miss as the Church of the Nativity.
- In honor of the nearly century-old tradition of White House holiday cards, POLITICO looked back at the 10 worst White House Christmas cards of all time.
- The New York Times released a nifty interactive allowing readers to enter their locations and see if they’ll have a white Christmas this year.
- CNN reported more than 1,600 flights have been cancelled so far on Christmas Eve and more than 1 million Americans are stuck without power.
- The New York Post reported 226 members of Congress – a majority – used pandemic-era proxy voting rules to skip out on the $1.7 trillion omnibus vote. Marjorie Taylor Greene cited the “ongoing public health emergency” to vote by proxy while reportedly vacationing in Costa Rica. While Democrats made up most of the members voting by proxy, some of the omnibus’s most vocal opponents – Reps. Elise Stefanik, Dan Bishop, Mike Johnson, Paul Gosar, Bob Good, Lauren Boebert and Greene – also skipped town early and voted by proxy.
- Fox News reported on the growing number of churches cancelling Christmas day services. The pastors cancelled services in anticipation of low attendance given Christmas falls on a Sunday this year for the first time since 2016.
- National Review published a reflection on the role of the “humble animals” in Christians’ celebrations of the Nativity. The presence of animals at the birth of Jesus indicates “that animals even had a stake in the events unfolding, as we are also reminded, frequently, of their own special standing, goodness, and individual dignity as living creatures — belonging not to us but to their Maker.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2022
