Santa Claus is coming to town. NORAD tracker shows where he is right now
Global News
NORAD, which has been tracking Santa Claus' every Christmas Eve for 66 years, will be providing real-time updates on Santa's progress from 4 a.m. to midnight MST.
Rest assured, kids of all ages: Santa‘s coming this Christmas Eve, and a second holiday with COVID-19 won’t stop him.
That’s the word from the joint U.S.-Canadian military operation that for 66 years has been tracking Jolly Old St. Nicholas on his global mission and has assured us all – first by land line and more recently by iPhone, Android, OnStar, Facebook, YouTube and more – that he’s on his way with a sleigh stuffed with toys and a welcome dose of joy.
In what’s become its own wildly popular tradition, the Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command provides real-time updates on Santa’s progress Dec. 24, from 4 a.m. to midnight MST. NORAD’s Santa Tracker lets families watch Father Christmas in 3D as he transits the South Pacific, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
From deep inside NORAD headquarters, dozens of volunteers field an unrelenting wave of phone calls. They and other volunteers working off-site because of coronavirus distancing protocols will answer such questions as “When will he come to my house? What kind of cookies does he like?” said program manager and NORAD spokesman Preston Schlachter.
Even before Friday’s takeoff, the NORAD webpage had been visited more than three million times, Schlachter said.
“Every household, every country is having to deal with the impact of this pandemic. Santa Claus is an icon, and he is a source of joy for a lot of people,” Schlachter said.
For those worried about Santa’s safety – or their own – the bearded man likely will be wearing a mask at each stop, and of course he’s wearing gloves, Schlachter noted. For the technically inclined, NORAD’s website offers more data on the voyage (Weight of gifts at takeoff: 60,000 tons, or 54,600 metric tons; sleigh propulsion: nine RP, or reindeer power).
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