As midnight approaches on Dec. 25, Santa Claus visits one time zone after another. This is visible on the Santa tracker run by NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
Starting early in the day on Christmas Eve, the tracker shows Santa Claus zig-zagging to cover the world with gifts in 24 hours. The path travels from east to west as night falls on different parts of the world throughout Dec. 24.
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The tracker is nearing its 70th anniversary, and the whole tradition started because of a misdialed phone number.
In 1955, a Colorado Springs newspaper ran a Sears store advertisement that included a phone number for Santa Claus.
A common legend said the advertisement misprinted the phone number. Those calls went to a facility for NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command, or CONAD, also in Colorado Springs.
However, a newspaper clip from the time, unearthed in 2014 by tech blog Gizmodo, reported that a kid misdialed the phone number by flipping two digits, reaching a very annoyed crew commander.
A few weeks later, as Christmas neared, the commander saw a media opportunity and persuaded the command to release a joke statement.
“CONAD, Army, Navy and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sleigh on his trip to and from the U.S. against possible attack from those who do not believe in Christmas,” they said in a statement published by the Associated Press.
NORAD relies on hundreds of volunteers fielding over 100,000 phone calls each year asking about Santa’s whereabouts.
In recent years, the virtual Santa on the tracker has endured many changes, including donning a mask while riding in his sleigh in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, a U.S. Air Force general told Fox News that Santa Claus will not have to worry about encountering drones, following a spate of drone sighting reports along the U.S. East Coast that raised fear among residents.
The NORAD hotline is open until 2 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Dec. 25. You can reach it by calling 1-877-HI-NORAD or 1-877-446-6723.
LAUREN TAYLOR: As midnight approaches on December 25th, one time zone after the other gets a visit from Santa Claus.
It’s all visible on the Santa tracker run by NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
Starting early in the day on Christmas Eve, the tracker shows Santa Claus zig-zagging south from the North Pole and back north to cover the world with gifts in a 24-hour period.
The path travels from east to west as night falls on different parts of the world on Christmas Eve.
The tracker is nearing its 70th anniversary. And the whole tradition started because of a misdialed phone number.
In 1955, a newspaper ad in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for a local Sears department store included a phone number for kids to call Santa Claus.
Legend had it that the ad misprinted a phone number and sent calls to a facility for NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command, or CONAD, also in Colorado Springs.
But a newspaper clip from the time unearthed in 2014 by tech blog Gizmodo reported that a kid misdialed the phone number by flipping two digits, reaching a very annoyed crew commander.
A few weeks later as Christmas Eve neared, the commander saw a P.R. opportunity, getting the air defense command to release a joke statement, pledging that “CONAD, Army, Navy and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sleigh on his trip to and from the U.S. against possible attack from those who do not believe in Christmas.”
NORAD relies on hundreds of volunteers fielding over 100,000 phone calls each year asking about Santa’s whereabouts.
And in recent years, the virtual Santa on the tracker has been through plenty.
Santa Claus wore a mask while riding in his sleigh in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And this year, a U.S. Air Force general told Fox News that Santa Claus will not have to worry about running into any drones, after reports in recent weeks of drone sightings in New Jersey raising fear among residents.
The NORAD hotline is open until 2 a.m. Eastern on December 25th. You can reach it by calling 1-877-HI-NORAD, or 1-877-446-6723.
For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.
And for all the latest updates on this and other top stories, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SAN.com.
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