He’s made a list, he’s checked it twice, and now Santa Claus is working his way around the world on his busiest day of the year. And with Amazon workers on strike and American Airline flights being briefly grounded on Christmas Eve, Santa (and some holiday revelers) might just need the extra help getting their Christmas gifts to arrive on time.
Each year, NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, provides “real-time” tracking of Santa and his reindeer starting at 6 a.m. ET on Christmas Eve, when Saint Nick purportedly leaves the North Pole and starts his journey delivering hundreds of millions of gifts to children. (As of this writing, Santa was in the Indian Ocean making his way west.)
To see where Father Christmas is at any given moment, simply go to NORAD’s website and click on “View Santa’s route on a 2D map” and look for Santa’s big red hat icon. (If confused, click on Instructions.)
Other cool features are a running tally of all gifts he’s delivered (2,681,010,867 at this writing) in addition to camera icons along his route that link to a Wikipedia summary of the locale.
A brief history of high-tech Santa tracking
In case you’re wondering: The tradition dates back to 1955 when a young child mistakenly called a Colorado military command center asking to speak to Santa.
According to NORAD, the commander on duty that night assured the child he was, indeed, Santa. And after more incoming calls, Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup assigned a duty officer to continue monitoring the phones, a tradition that has continued ever since.
Wait, can kids still call and speak to Santa?
Yes! Today, inquisitive kids and their parents can dial 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to speak to Santa. Each year, volunteers typically received more than 130,000 calls. The more tech savvy, and phone shy, among us can simply track Santa on the NORAD Tracks Santa app, on Instagram, OnStar, Amazon Alexa, and SiriusXM.
Wishing you a happy holiday from all of us at Fast Company. Now, go put out those cookies—Santa is literally on his way!
