How to track Santa Claus around the world with NORAD’s flight tracker

While public anxieties have loomed over the Northeast amid possible drone sightings, one sighting will soon bring holiday cheer across the country: Santa Claus.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command is once again prepared to track Santa and his reindeer around the world.

NORAD, which is responsible for protecting the skies over the United States and Canada, activates its Santa tracking system at 6 a.m. ET on Christmas Eve. Santa watchers can follow his journey on NORAD’s website or they can call the command center at 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to participate in the yearly Christmas tradition.

The tracking service can also be accessed through the NORAD Tracks Santa app, social media, Amazon Alexa, OnStar and SiriusXM, according to NORAD.

This is the 69th year NORAD has tracked Santa’s yuletide journey around the world. It started by accident, according to NORAD’s website, in 1955 when a local newspaper advertisement informed children they could call Santa directly — only the contact number was misprinted. Instead of ringing Old Saint Nick, a child called the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, who answered the child’s call, was quick to realize the mistake and assured the child he was Santa, according to the website. After more calls, Shoup assigned an officer to answer the calls, “and a tradition was born.” That tradition continued when NORAD was formed in 1958.

The Santa tracker site receives millions of visitors from around the world each year, according to NORAD, and volunteers typically answer more than 130,000 calls.

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