Norad Santa tracker – LIVE: Follow Santa Claus as he delivers Christmas gifts on start of global journey
He’s made his list, he’s checked it twice – join us on Father Christmas’s journey around the world
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Your support makes all the difference.Santa Claus and his reindeer have begun their journey around the globe, with billions of stops to make in less than 24 hours.
Father Christmas is currently steering his sleigh through the Pacific, having already delivered hundreds of millions of gifts.
Every Christmas Eve, Norad – the North American Aerospace Defense Command – provides real-time tracking of Santa’s sleigh as it navigates the skies.
The cherished tradition dates back to 1955 when a misprint in a department store advert led a young child to call a Colorado military command center asking to speak to Santa Claus.
Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup, who picked up the call that night, played along and assured the child he was Santa. As more calls poured in, he assigned an officer to handle the queries, starting a festive custom that Norad continued after its creation in 1958.
For decades, Norad has swapped its usual airspace monitoring duties to answer children’s questions about Santa’s journey and his astonishing present-delivery operation. Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the organisation to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online – in nine languages – as St Nick swoops along the earth’s meridians.
Stay tuned for updates as we follow Santa’s magical route across the world.
Next stop Angola
Santa Claus is now en route to Luanda, the capital of Angola. It is a port city on the west coast of Southern Africa, home to around 9million people.
Father Christmas brings presents to South Africa
Father Christmas has made it all the way to South Africa to deliver his presents after setting off from the North Pole earlier today.
He arrived on his sleigh in Johannesburg just now, a vibrant city of just six million. He is now en route to Cape Town to drop off more presents made by his crafty hard-working elves.
Santa lands in Bethlehem
Santa Claus has landed in Bethlehem. The Palestinian town in the West Bank is the birthplace of Jesus Christ and where the Christian Church of the Nativity is.
Why did Norad start tracking Santa?
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.
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 defends and monitors the skies over North America — has fielded children’s questions about the red-and-white-clad chimney intruder and his unrivaled delivery schedule.
What route does Santa take?
Santa usually starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west.
So, historically, Santa visits the South Pacific first, then New Zealand and Australia. After that, he shoots up to Japan, over to Asia, across to Africa, then onto Western Europe, Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central and South America.
“Keep in mind, Santa’s route can be affected by weather, so it’s really unpredictable,” Norad states on its website.
When will Santa arrive at my house?
“NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route,” the military organization’s website states, “which means we cannot predict where and when he will arrive at your house. We do, however, know from history that it appears he arrives only when children are asleep! In most countries, it seems Santa arrives between 9:00 p.m. and midnight on December 24th. If children are still awake when Santa arrives, he moves on to other houses. He returns later, but only when the children are asleep!”
Next stop International Space Station
Santa Claus is now bound for the International Space Station (ISS) - in orbit around 250 miles above earth’s atmosphere.
There are seven crew members currently at the ISS awaiting Santa’s sleigh: Alexey Ovchinin, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, Ivan Vagner, Don Pettit, Aleksandr Gorbunov, and Nick Hague.
First stop in Africa!
Santa Claus and his nine reindeers have made their first stop in Africa. They touched down, bearing gifts, in Mogadishu, Somalia, just now.
Mogadishu has a population of around 2.5million. It is the capital of the East African country and has served as an important trading city for millennia - something Santa well understands.
Next stop Tehran
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, and Santa Claus, are now heading to Tehran.
The Iranian capital is home to around 10million people. Iranians who have converted to Christianity from Islam can only practise their faith in secret.
Santa reaches Pakistan
Santa Claus has now reached Karachi, Pakistan. It is the largest city in Pakistan and 12th largest in the world, with a population of over 20million.
This is about 13million short of New Delhi, where Santa visited earlier, but still a huge amount of people to deliver presents for.
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