The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint U.S.-Canadian aerospace and maritime defense organization, has been tracking Santa’s route around the world since 1955 and is doing so again this year.

Tracking Santa’s trip around the world is available through the NORAD website www.noradsanta.org and a phone line (877) 446-6723 where an operator can say exactly where Santa is from 4 a.m. on Dec. 24 until 12 a.m. on Dec. 25.

If the phone line is busy, a message will answer to let anyone who calls know where Santa is at that moment.

There is also an email address (noradtrackssanta@outlook.com) for the NORAD operators who will inform anyone who emails where Santa is at that time they respond. NORAD also has a free app available for download on Apple and Android phones called “NORAD Tracks Santa Claus” that can track Santa via smartphone or tablet.

For those who have Amazon’s Alexa, she will also answer the question, “Where is Santa?”

Merry Christmask: Santa Claus taking the necessary precautions at a drive-in Christmas market in Kalkar, western Germany
Merry Christmask: Santa Claus taking the necessary precautions at a drive-in Christmas market in Kalkar, western Germany AFP / Ina FASSBENDER

Though his route changes every year, Santa usually starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west from there. So that means he reaches the South Pacific first, then New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and the rest of Asia, then Africa, Western Europe, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and last but not least the rest of Central and South America. This route is subject to change depending on weather events.

NORAD estimates that Santa usually arrives at any location between the hours of 9 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 24 but will only arrive at a house if the children who believe in Santa are all asleep.

Through a global pandemic and many other global catastrophes in years past, NORAD’s Santa Tracker has endured, always able to track Santa with satellites and flying jets.

In 1955, NORAD’s Santa Tracker started as a happy accident.

According to NORAD, “the modern tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955 when a young child accidentally dialed the unlisted phone number of the CONAD Operations Center upon seeing a newspaper advertisement telling kids to call Santa. The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, answered the phone and instructed his staff to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.”

Thus, a tradition was born that continues through the help of volunteers.

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