What started from a mistake on a printed advertisement more than 60 years ago has become a Christmas tradition, and continues to this day.
Beginning on Christmas Eve, children around the United States will be able to monitor Santa’s progress as he and his reindeer travel around the world delivering their toys and holiday joy thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s (NORAD) official Santa Tracker. The tracker, a collaboration between the United States and Canadian governments, can be found online at www.noradsanta.org.
The tradition began in 1955, following a misprinted phone number in a Sears & Roebuck advertisement in Colorado Springs, Colo. The ad listed the direct telephone number of the NORAD (then known as CONAD - Continental Air Defense Command) commander-in-chief’s operations hotline. After the first call, the Director of Operations at the time, Col. Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for updates on Santa’s locations and relay those updates to all of the children who called the number. Since that time, the men and women of NORAD, along with volunteer family and friends, have given their time and energy to personally answer phone calls and emails from children all around the world trying to track Santa on his annual journey.
NORAD’s tracking system begins with a radar system called the North Warning System. The system is comprised of 47 radar installations positioned along the northern borders of Canada and Alaska, which monitor the North Pole for indications of Santa’s departure. Once NORAD receives notice of take-off, they switch to satellites for constant monitoring of the sleigh’s progress.
Once Santa enters Canadian airspace, he is tracked by Canadian Air Force pilots in CF-18 jet fighters. They escort him to U.S. airspace, where the escort duties are picked up by American pilots in F-15s, F-16s, and F-22s. According to NORAD officials, Santa’s sleigh is actually faster than the fighter jets, so he slows down to allow the escorts to keep up.
Despite the constant monitoring by all of NORAD’s various systems, the trackers are unable to tell precisely when Santa might arrive at any specific house along his route. Santa’s route is known only to Santa himself, and can change due to weather and other unforeseen circumstances. NORAD officials say Santa usually starts around the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and then works his way west, from the south Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, then north up to Japan and across Asia, Africa and into Europe before crossing the Atlantic into Canada, the United States, then through Mexico and Latin America.
In addition to tracking Santa, NORAD fighter pilots serving as escorts take photos and video of Santa. Those videos and images appear almost every hour at www.noradsanta.org, beginning Dec.
24.