As Santa Claus prepares to embark on his epic annual sleigh ride around the world to hand out presents on Christmas Eve, kids and adults everywhere are eager to keep tabs on his progress throughout the day.
Fortunately for them, help is at hand in the form of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, a joint air defense effort between the U.S. and Canada, which has been tracking the flight location of Santa on Christmas Eve since 1955.
Where Santa Is Right Now?
According to the NORAD website: “Santa is at the North Pole, where he lives with Mrs. Claus and the elves who make toys and take care of the reindeer year round!
“Each year on December 24th, Santa and his reindeer launch from the North Pole very early in the morning for their famous trip around the world. The minute they launch, NORAD starts to track him!”
Anyone wanting to keep up to date with Santa’s progress can do so via the NORAD Tracks Santa website, with updates available in eight different languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese.
From 4 a.m. ET on December 24, Santa fans can see updates on the website as Saint Nick prepares for his epic journey.
From 6 a.m. on Christmas Eve, you can also dial a toll-free number, 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723), and discover more about Santa’s latest whereabouts with the help of a live phone operator or a recorded update.
Are There Other Ways to Track Santa?
In addition to the website and toll-free number, users can also track Saint Nick’s progress using the NORAD Tracks Santa App, which is available from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for smartphone and tablet.
Santa can also be followed on social media via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Fans are also encouraged to follow Santa’s journey and share their stories using the hashtag #NORADTracksSanta.
There’s also the NORA Tracks Santa YouTube account while users can also get updates via the Bing search engine or by using Amazon Alexa and OnStar.
NORAD said: “Anytime on December 24, Amazon Alexa users can ask for Santa’s location through the NORAD Tracks Santa skill for Amazon Alexa, and OnStar subscribers can press the OnStar button in their vehicles to locate Santa.”
How Did the NORAD Santa Tracking Tradition Begin?
The annual tradition for tracking Santa’s journey began in 1955 when a young child accidentally called the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) to find out where Santa was.
The child was responding to a newspaper ad encouraging kids to call a number and speak directly to Santa. However, a misprint led to the unlisted number for CONAD being published in place of the one assigned for the Santa hotline.
As a result the CONAD director of operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, answered the phone. Evidently eager to spread a little Christmas cheer, Colonel Shoup decided to play along, pretending to be Santa and informing the child of his current location.
He subsequently assigned another duty officer to continue taking calls and thus the decades-long tradition was born with the responsibility passed on to NORAD from 1958 onwards.
Since then, every year on Christmas Eve staff have coordinated a joint air defense effort to keep kids and adults alike posted on Santa’s location as he treks around the globe.
The post Santa Tracker: Follow Your Christmas Presents in Real Time appeared first on Newsweek.
