The mistake that kicked off NORAD Santa tracking: Here is where to track Santa

Santa has taken off from the North Pole, and NORAD – the North American Aerospace Defense Command – is helping everyone waiting for him track him in real time. He is first moving to the South Pacific, and will then visit Asia, Africa, Europe, and cross the Atlantic to the Americas in just 24 hours. NORAD has been following this tradition since 1955. It started with an error and went on to become a tradition that is followed to date. However, NORAD is not the only one tracking Santa's journey, as the Federal Aviation Administration is also on the trail. Santa has already delivered almost four and a half billion gifts, according to NORAD. So, how does this work, and when did it start?

How NORAD Santa tracking begin?

Norad uses its polar radar network to track Santa, and then moves on to satellites and infrared sensors. The latter are typically used to detect missile launches. However, Santa does not follow a fixed route, as NORAD says, "only Santa knows his route." The tradition of tracking Santa started in 1955. It started with a misprint in an advertisement, telling children they could place a call to Santa Claus on the number ME 2-6681. But a misprint of one digit diverted the calls to Colorado Springs' Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup answered the phone and heard a child say, “Are you Santa Claus?” He asked the child how he got the unlisted number, and was informed about an ad.

Brig. Gen. Steven Gorski, NORAD and US Northern Command director of intelligence, says, “Colonel Shoup played the part. He assured the child that he was not in fact Santa Claus, but his job was to track Santa Claus and make sure that he stayed safe. That started the lore and the history of NORAD Tracks Santa.”

Click here to track Santa

Santa tracker and calls

NORAD has been in the Christmas spirit ever since, and every year on the eve of the holiday, it scans the skies to know where Santa is. In Canada, two CF-18 Hornets guided Santa through the country's airspace in the evening. Transport Canada also posted a fun ad on X, stating that "the Minister of Transport has cleared Santa for travel just in time for #Christmas."

Meanwhile, NORAD also posted about the number of calls it had received enquiring about Santa. It wrote on X, "We’ve now received more than 64,000 calls from families around the world tracking Santa’s journey tonight." Today, volunteers handle around 380,000 calls, while the website gets some 2.3 million hits every year on Christmas Eve.