Norad Santa tracker – live: Follow Father Christmas and his reindeer around the globe
Santa Claus is coming to town – join us on his journey around the world
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Father Christmas is currently flying around the globe to deliver presents to children around the world.
Every year Norad – the North American Aerospace Defense Command – tracks Santa’s journey as he travels the planet in his sleigh.
The tradition began in 1955 when a child mistakenly rang a Colorado military command asking to speak to Father Christmas – after a local newspaper ran an advert by a department store containing a misprinted phone number.
Air Force Commander Harry Shoup, who was manning the phones that Christmas Eve, quickly realised the mistake and assured the child that he was in fact Santa Claus.
As more calls came in that night, Commander Shoup assigned a duty officer to continue answering the phone, birthing a tradition that passed over to Norad when it was formed in 1958.
Every year since, the agency – which ordinarily defends and monitors the skies over North America – has fielded children’s questions about the red-and-white-clad chimney intruder and his unrivalled delivery schedule.
Stick with us as we follow his route around the world.
We are pausing our live coverage – Merry Christmas!
We are now pausing our live coverage.
You can follow The Independent’s homepage for all the latest updates.
In the meantime, we wish you a very merry Christmas!
Santa finishes epic journey having delivered almost eight million gifts
Santa has finished his epic journey around the world, having delivered almost eight million gifts.
He stopped off at every home to drop 7,883,693,263 presents over the course of Christmas Eve.
Father Christmas heads home to North Pole
Father Christmas is heading to his home of the North Pole.
He has just stopped in Midway Atoll, US Minor Outlying Islands.
For those waking up in the UK
People will be waking up across the UK to stockings filled with presents at the ends of their beds.
Santa has stopped off at every house in the country throughout the night of Christmas Eve – and he continues to do so over in the US.
Call Norad to find out where Santa is as they continue to track him
Norad continues to track Santa on his magical journey around the globe.
People can call its call centre volunteers on 1-877-Hi-NORAD to ask where he is.
Santa is making his way through the United States
Santa is making his way through the United States.
He is currently flying through Alaska, having just made a stop in Juneau and heading towards Fairbanks.
Where is Santa?
Santa Claus and his eight tiny reindeer can be seen live during their annual trek from the North Pole using Norad’s live Santa tracker.
How did the Santa tracking tradition begin?
In 1955, Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup — the commander on duty at the Norad’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command — fielded a call from a child who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a newspaper department store ad, thinking she was calling Santa.
A fast-thinking Shoup quickly told his caller he was Santa, and as more calls came in, he assigned a duty officer to keep answering. And the Santa-tracking tradition began.
Norad expects some 1,100 volunteers to help answer calls this year in a dedicated operations center at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, ranging from command staff to people around the world.“It’s a bit of a bucket list item for some folks,” says Mathias, calling the operations center “definitely the most festive place to be on December 24th.
”The operations center is open Christmas Eve until midnight. Anyone can call 1-877 HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to talk directly to Norad staff members who will provide updates on Santa’s exact location.
‘Santa is on his way’
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden participated in Norad Santa tracking calls on Sunday evening with children and families across the country, said the White House in a statement.
A post from Jill Biden on the social media platform now known as X showed a picture of her and the president, sitting on a couch with a Christmas tree behind them, and said that Norad had “confirmed the good news: Santa is on his way!”
The military is tracking Santa with “the same technology we use every single day to keep North America safe,” said US Air Force Colonel Elizabeth Mathias, Norad’s chief spokesperson. “We’re able to follow the light from Rudolph’s red nose.”
Ms Mathias says that while Norad has a good intelligence assessment of his sleigh’s capabilities, Santa does not file a flight plan and may have some high-tech secrets up his red sleeve this year to help guide his travels — maybe even artificial intelligence.“I don’t know yet if he’s using AI,” said Ms Mathias. “I’ll be curious to see if our assessment of his flight this year shows us some advanced capabilities.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments