For the 60 year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be tracking Santa’s progress on his Yuletide journey.
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“We have a lot of assets here, from radars to satellites, other ways we can track Santa, from his heat signature to the speed that he’s going”, said Canadian Army Capt. Jennifer Stadnyk, a NORAD spokeswoman. The NORAD Tracks Santa website is operational at www.noradsanta.org.
Official NORAD Tracks Santa apps also are available in the Windows, Apple and Google Play stores, so parents and children can count down the days until Santa’s launch on their smartphones and tablets.
It started when a business misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa, and instead of reaching Father Christmas, the phone number put kids through to the operations “hotline” for Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). It was during the Cold War, when Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup had a red phone on his desk, where, should it ring, the likely message would be that nuclear missiles were headed from the Soviet Union over the North Pole to the United States, Shoup’s children told National Public Radio last December.
If you like to get your Santa status firsthand, you can talk to a live operator in the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center to inquire about Santa’s whereabouts beginning December 24 at 6 a.m. EST by dialing 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an email to noradtrackssanta(at)outlook.com. This radar array helps determine when Santa has lifted off. You can blast a streaming Good King Wenceslas while exploring Santa’s village, which includes information about NORAD, Santa Claus, holiday traditions, related YouTube videos, holiday stories and coloring pages.
Participants can bring purchased presents back to the main post office, along with the redacted letter.
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For the process to work, adults need to read the instructions before the keiki write their letters.
