`Green Christmas` in eastern parts of U.S. and Canada

It was not a “white Christmas” across the eastern parts of the U.S. and Canada. Recording the highest temperature, the region greeted a “green Christmas” with spring flowers on green grass instead. The central and southern parts of America, on the other hand, had a “Christmas nightmare” as tornado, which is rarely seen during winter season, devastated the region.

The ABC News reported that the temperature in New York went up as high as 22.2 degrees Celsius in the morning of Dec. 24, five times warmer than 4 degrees Celsius, the average temperature of usual Christmas Eve. Since 1871 when meteorological observation began, the highs were 17.2 degrees Celsius in 1996. Washington and Philadelphia saw the highest ever temperature of 21.6 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Given the unusually-high temperature, some of the eastern part in American witnessed rather strange phenomenon of having spring flowers such as camellia. Citizens in the region were shown in their shorts and short sleeve shirts, or working out with their jacket taken off. Explaining that this was caused by Super El Nino, which began last Christmas, weather forecasters jokingly said that Santa Claus is advised to wear Bermuda shorts not to be soaked in sweat.

Canada’s CBC News reported that the eastern part of Canada that is located northern part of New York has also seen the record high temperature. Canada’s capital city of Ottawa saw 17 degrees Celsius, more than twice the highs of 1996 while Montreal had 16 degrees Celsius, almost twice higher the highs of 8.3 degrees Celsius of 1957. With 15 degrees Celsius, Windsor in Ontario renewed its previous highs of 12 degrees Celsius of 1941.

Nathan Phillips Square near Toronto City Hall, which used to turn to a skating rink every winter, was flooded with water while Owl’s Head, a famous rink in Quebec, hasn’t opened its door yet. On the other hand, golf clubs that are supposed to be quiet in winter are crowded with golfers who are enjoying warm weather. The CBC News predicted that some 85 percent of Canadian population would greet this year`s“green Christmas.”

In the meanwhile, strong tornadoes that swept away Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee took more than 14 lives, causing dozens of injuries. Mississippi saw the largest damage with seven death tolls while Tennessee with six and Arkansas with one death tolls. The tornado-stricken areas took measures to prevent flood damage by closing highways and canceling school calendars. Three airports of LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark in New York have cancelled all the flights.

confetti@donga.com