While the Santa Tracker website has been online for several weeks, the real show gets underway on the morning of Christmas Eve.
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NORAD will track Santa on Christmas Eve into Christmas Day, just like they’ve done for nearly seven decades. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, typically focuses on homeland security matters, but has dutifully taken on the task of tracking Santa since 1955.
According to NORAD’s Santa Tracker, a total of 7,883,693,263 gifts were delivered last year.
While the Santa Tracker website has been online for several weeks, the real show starts the morning of Christmas Eve. Starting around 4 a.m. Eastern on Dec. 24, NORAD will begin tracking Santa with updates from around the world all the way until midnight, mountain standard time.
Click here to visit the NORAD Tracks Santa website.
Callers can also dial in throughout the day to find out where Santa is on his journey. People can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask live operators about Santa’s location from 6 a.m. to midnight, mountain time.
Would Santa Tracker be impacted by a government shutdown?
The military’s tradition of tracking Santa Claus would carry on, even if the U.S. government shuts down, officials confirmed Friday.
The operation is supported by local and corporate sponsors, who also help shield the tradition from Washington dysfunction.
The military command has been fielding calls since 1955, when Air Force Col. Harry Shoup — the commander on duty at NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command — fielded a call from a child who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a newspaper department store ad, thinking she was calling Santa.
A fast-thinking Shoup quickly assured his caller that he was. And the tradition began.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden have also participated in the tradition, answering calls to the Santa tracking service. It is a longstanding tradition for first ladies, but the president joined in 2021 as well.
Today, most early calls come from Japan and Europe, and as the day goes on the callers from the U.S. and Canada climb.
In addition to the phone center and online site, Amazon Alexa users can ask for Santa’s location using the NORAD Tracks Santa skill Dec. 24.
NORAD’s mission is to watch the skies above North America for any potential threats. Come early Christmas Eve, the Santa operation begins when a cluster of radar stations in northern Canada and Alaska pick up an infrared signature emanating from Rudolph’s nose. NORAD’s array of geostationary satellites above the Earth monitor the journey.
“We Have the Watch,” is NORAD’s military-mission motto.
And when it comes to Santa, NORAD adds:
“Santa calls the shots. We just track him.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
