Gang, I know this might seem confusing. But we need weather forecasts for next week – I’m told specifically for the dates on August 23rd and August 24th.

No – these weather forecasts are not for potential test flights of Santa’s sleigh.

It’s my understanding that a shipment of some sort is scheduled to take place on those dates. It will be coming from the North Pole, through Canada and the United States and maybe as far south as Northern Mexico.

What it is, I can’t tell you. But they want to know what the weather will be like in all areas. They either want to avoid weather, or fly right into it. I don’t know right now.

I’m told I may find out sometime this weekend. They say it’s “no big deal”. We’ll see.

Anyway, if you can accommodate this as soon as you can get a forecast for those dates, it will prove most useful.

Maybe by Saturday or Sunday I’ll be able to give you more information.

Thanks, elves.

Greetings Elves of Sector 4!

Heads up to all elves on the west coast of Sector 4 in South America: we have learned from Flight Command that the test flights are moving south, not east. It may be possible that some elves on the far west coast of South America could see sleighs in flight in the coming days.

If you are located there and see a sleigh, please file a sleigh sighting report. We are yet to see one of those come in from any sector so far.

The test flights are scheduled most of the week over the open waters of the Pacific. But they are fairly close to costal areas of Sector 5 right now and they may wander close to our Sector as they head south.

I’m told there is about a 67% chance these flights or parts of them could be visible from land in Sector 4.

I’ll keep you posted.

The North Pole Navy is repositioning for later coordination this next week with flights of Santa’s sleigh. We’re not sure if that means our Sector or Sectors 4 or 5, so I’m just passing along the news. We can anticipate several days of test flights over the Pacific…somewhere.

The coordination with the North Pole Navy is interesting. They serve as floating tracking centers most of the time but they are also emergency landing zones for flying sleighs. Santa has never had to use one that way but a few freighter sleighs and other kinds of flights have found the North Pole Navy to be quite helpful, especially in resting reindeer and breaking up long flights.

Each ship has food, water, medical facilities for both elves and reindeer and even a remote sleigh repair shop. They are there to help if help is needed.

They have already been working on communications with the Navy and that is going well.

But the purpose of these flights, I’m told, is to test sleigh capabilities over open waters. These are very important tests because Santa spends much of his flying time over the oceans.

They will be testing how the sleigh performs in both high and low altitudes, loaded and unloaded, and fast and slow speeds. These tests will be conducted both night and day.

This won’t be a great week for possible sleigh sightings….until maybe later in the week.

One of us will let you know. It depends on where they are going next and weather conditions they want to encounter. Right now, we are not sure where that will be.

I would just tell all sectors to be ready to submit weather reports, especially around the end of the week. So heads up!

We need a WEATHER REPORT from all areas of Sector 5 by August 15th from all available elves.

NOTE for FREELANCE ELVES: Please use the standard freelance elf report for this request.

No, we do not have a schedule yet for test flights of Santa’s sleigh in our sector. This report is requested because we have North Pole scout teams coming to North and Central America in advance of test flights later this month. The weather report is for them.

As far as when we will see the test flights in our sector all I can tell you is that it will happen on very short notice. Maybe a day or two in advance we might learn of it. So please be paying attention.

I’m being told that they likely won’t need much from us but I’d still like you all to be on alert just to see if we can be the first sector to report a sleigh sighting this year. That hasn’t happened yet and I’d like to be the first, ya know?

Some of you have expressed concern about our regional tracking center here in Mistletoe, Kentucky. Yes, I know that recent flooding in nearby areas have been a concern. But please be assured that we are all okay. The barn – which is really where our tracking center is, truth be told – sits at the top of a hill. While we can see flooded areas close by where we are is totally fine and we’re operating without issue.

Thank you for your concern.