- Santa Claus is coming to town, and you can use a couple of different tools to track him down.
- NORAD and Google both offer to track Saint Nick’s whereabouts on Christmas Eve.
- Here’s how to follow Santa as he travels the world.
He’s making a list and checking it twice.
It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus and his reindeer are busy delivering presents to children all over the world.
But when will Santa arrive in the United States, and when will he fly over your state or neighborhood? This year you can use some popular Santa trackers, including those from the North American Aerospace Defense Command and Google, to track Saint Nick’s journey from the North Pole.
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NORAD follows Santa
NORAD has been tracking Santa Claus every year since 1958. But NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command, began monitoring it in 1955.
The organization says it uses radar, satellites and jet planes to track Santa’s route. While you don’t know exactly when Santa will arrive at your home, he starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and heads west, moving to the South Pacific, then Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America. .
“NORAD coordinates with Santa’s Elf Launch Staff to confirm his launch time, but from that point on, Santa calls the shots,” NORAD confirmed on its website.
“Santa wouldn’t want to rush through the important work of delivering presents to children and spreading joy to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow operates within his time-space continuum,” they added.
NORAD Tracks the Santa Operations Center will be “fully operational” at 4:00 a.m. MST on Christmas Eve, with about 750 Canadian and American military and civilians volunteering to spread Santa’s joy. You can visit their website to keep up with Santa, or call a volunteer at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado.
- Amazon Alexa customers can also use the NORAD Tracks Santa skill, where users can ask, “Alexa, where’s Santa?”
Google Santa Tracker
Google is tracking Santa’s travels again this year, releasing “a tracking experience where you can follow Santa and his reindeer as they deliver gifts to children around the world,” according to its website.
You can also use Google Assistant to learn more about Santa Claus and get updates from the North Pole. Google Assistant can also tell Santa jokes, among other features.
Google has been tracking Santa’s Christmas Eve journey since 2004, and they estimate it to last 25 hours.
