Santa’s journey to be tracked online

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of tracking Santa’s yuletide journey. Staff at the command center fielded the calls and the operation grew over the years as military and personal technology got more sophisticated.

On the bilingual front, NORAD, a partnership between the US and Canada, has a distinct advantage.

“It’s great to have Santa here in North Fort Myers because people don’t have to travel far”.

Santa tracking has come a long way.

NORAD has been tracking Santa Claus for decades, six decades to be precise along with its predecessor.

Over 1,500 volunteers spend 23 hours taking hundreds of thousands of calls from 234 countries and territories. Calls fielded by these Tracks Santa hotline have grown steadily, totaling almost 550,000 over the last five years alone. Children who called were given updates on his location.

While children wait for the NORAD Santa Tracker to go live at 12:01 a.m. MST on December 24, they can check out the live ReindeerCam site that allows kids to see a live feed of the reindeer.

When does Santa arrive exactly?

Many National Guard and active-duty units are pitching in Christmas Eve to help track Santa Claus on his journey from the North Pole.

How does Santa do it all? NORAD explains that fighter pilots “often escort Santa’s sleigh through North American airspace”, while the navy and coast guard secure the seas beneath him.

Sixty years of watching Santa has given NORAD a unique insight into the man himself.

The New Dorp yoga studio, which opened November 30th, hosted about a dozen children anxious to hang out with Santa before the big day, and regularly offers programs geared towards youngsters, family and seniors. Sgt. Kyle Kelly with NORAD is anxiously awaiting the jump start of holiday mission. Be they from New Zealand, Europe, the USA or Australia (the lead regions of curious children), all phone calls will be attended to.

There is a technical side to the Santa tradition. “They report high-speed radar returns from their defense network radar systems”.

“Everybody knows that Rudolph’s nose is red, but it gives out a lot of heat”.