Track Santa’s flight

Military radar shows Christmas Eve progress

As a military operation, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has a 24/ 7/ 365 schedule of monitoring potential threats over U.S. and Canadian skies.

But for a sliver of time on Christmas Eve, NORAD is also responsible for tracking Santa’s yuletide flight across the continent.

Now in its 62nd year, the practice of tracking Santa on military radar was the result of a misprint of a phone number in a Colorado newspaper in 1955. Instead of reaching Santa, the number listed in the Sears ad actually rang through to the “red phone” that would alert the agency, then known as the Continental Air Defense Command, if there was an attack on the United States.

Col. Harry Shoup was manning the secret hotline, and rather than disappoint legions of children on Christmas Eve, he instructed a couple of airmen to pose as Santa Claus during the evening. Thus began the tradition, which continued after NORAD was formed in 1958.

The NORAD Tracks Santa website, www.noradsanta.org, is already active. It features Santa’s North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, movies, games and activities. The website is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese.

Also, official NORAD Tracks Santa apps are available in the Windows, Apple and Google Play stores, so families can count down the days until Santa’s launch on their smart- phones and tablets. Tracking opportunities also are offered on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Google+. Just type “@noradsanta” into a search engine to get started.

Then, starting at 2 a.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 24, website visitors can watch Santa make preparations for his flight. NORAD’s “Santa Cams” will stream videos on the website as Santa makes his way over various locations.

Then, starting at 6 a.m., trackers worldwide can speak with a live phone operator to inquire as to Santa’s whereabouts by dialing the tollfree number 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877446-6723) or by sending an email to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.

Any time on Dec. 24, Windows Phone users can ask Cortana for Santa’s location, and OnStar subscribers can press the OnStar button in their vehicles to locate Santa.

PHOTO BY MASTER SGT. CHARLES MARSH Callers to the NORAD Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Christmas Eve can find out Santa’s whereabouts from a team of military workers who are monitoring his flight.