With just three days until Christmas the final countdown to Santa’s one-night circumnavigation of the globe has started.
Youy can track his progress with The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), which follows Father Christmas as he leaves his top-secret toy factory in the North Pole this Sunday.
The site allows children – and adults – to track Santa as he travels around the world at lightening speed, starting on Christmas Eve.
You can track Santa in real-time using NORAD’s tool below. Mobile users who can’t see the tracker above can visit NORAD’s website to use it
You can track Santa in real-time using NORAD’s tool above. Mobile users who can’t see the tracker above can visit NORAD’s website to use it
NORAD has been following Santa’s movements from space since 1955, when an advert encouraging children to phone Santa gave out its number instead.
It told children to give Santa Claus a call ‘any time day or night’ on his private phone, but accidentally gave the number ME-2-6681, which connected to the NORAD ‘hotline’.
Colonel Harry Shoup received the call on a telephone meant to be used during an incidence of impending attack by the Soviet Union, but responded in a playful way and let the boy know where Santa was en route from the North Pole.
Colonel Shoup ordered staff to answer calls with an update on Father Christmas’ location and the tradition has continued, now with a live tracker of Santa’s journey online.
The website shows his path above different countries and has a counter that reveals the number of presents delivered.
Although Father Christmas won’t set off until Christmas Eve, the site has been live all this month to get people ready.
Come the 24th December, if users cannot access the tracker there is also an email address or number you can contact to get the latest updates.
As well as a clock with a countdown to Christmas Eve there are weather updates, games, films and Christmas stories available on the site.
People can track Santa’s progress when he leaves his toy factory in the North Pole. This screenshot shows tracking has begun
NORAD has been following Santa’s movements from space since 1955, when an advert encouraging children to phone Santa gave out its number instead. This screenshot from NORAD shows Santa’s village
‘One of our favourite places on the website is the Holiday Activities page under Library’, according to the NORAD Facebook page.
‘You can see a personalised message from Santa, Elf Yourself, print out colouring pages, and SO MUCH MORE’.
Volunteers are manning NORAD’s 157 phone lines and computers at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to field hundreds of phone calls, emails and tweets from anxious children, wondering what time Santa will arrive.
According to the website the email address is; noradtrackssanta@outlook.com
It says you can phone the call centre on 00-1-719-556-5211.
Santa is based in a top-secret workshop at the top of the world, known only to a few people
NORAD said Santa is able to complete his journey because he works within his own special space-time continuum. His sled carries incredible weights and is propelled by ‘reindeer power (illustrated above)
They generally get around 70,000 calls from children in around 200 countries checking his location.
Parents and guardians will also want to ensure their children are in bed before Santa arrives so he stops and makes his much-anticipated delivery.
Volunteers will share Santa’s location on Facebook and Twitter. In 2014 Santa got 1.6 million Facebook likes.
Normally the NORAD facility is responsible for defending the skies of the US and Canada and was originally located within Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs in order to withstand a nuclear attack.
You can also track Santa using Amazon Alexa by installing the ‘NORAD Tracks Santa’ skill which is free from Amazon.
Another tracker – Google’s Santa Tracker website and Android app – will also go live on 24 December.
‘For 13 years, Google’s Santa Tracker has been a fun, educational and interactive way for fans to celebrate the holiday season’, a Google spokesperson said.
This allows fans worldwide to follow Santa’s progress on either the desktop web, mobile web (Android/iOS), Android app, Android TV app and Chromecast.
HOW NORAD’S SANTA TRACKING OPERATION BEGAN
Thanks to a newspaper’s misprint in 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command – designed to track aerial and space threats to the continent – received a call from a little boy hoping to speak to Father Christmas.
The misprint in 1955 came in a Sears Roebuck ad for readers in Colorado Springs, which is near Norad’s headquaters at Ent Air Force Base.
It told children to give Santa Claus a call ‘any time day or night’ on his private phone, but accidentally gave the number ME-2-6681, which connected to the NORAD ‘hotline’.
Colonel Harry Shoup received the call on a telephone meant to be used during an incidence of impending attack by the Soviet Union, but responded in a playful way and let the boy know where Santa was en route from the North Pole.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command has tracked Santa Claus’s journey around the world since 1955, when Colonel Harry Shoup (right), received a phone call from a little boy who had seen a misprint ad (left) for Sears and wanted to speak to Kris Kringle
The colonel’s daughter told the New York Post that a child on the other end began crying when the military man demanded to know who was calling.
However, Shoup then said that he was one of Santa’s elves, and talked to the boy about whether he had been a good boy.
He figured out what was going on after talking to the boy’s mother and told his men to speak to the children about Santa’s journey when more calls came.
NORAD, then called Corad, had a radar system set up in the northern reaches of Canada to detect threats such as Soviet missiles traveling over the North Pole.
Decades later, the NORAD Tracks Santa effort also uses satellites and SantaCams placed around the world that ‘broadcast footage’ of the Jolly Old Elf in different locales.
The has become tradition, and now involves a host of corporate partners and volunteers who handle calls and emails from children wondering about Santa’s whereabouts.
He is said to start near the International Date Line in New Zealand and Australia before going up to east Asia and west to Europe and Africa before hitting up the US.
NORAD claims Canadian and American fighter jets accompany Saint Nick in each country’s airspace though the website lacks accounts of the journey from the airmen.