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

Santa Claus and his reindeer travel around world on Norad tracker

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.

Key Points

• Norad tracking begins
• How do Norad track Santa?

[25 December 2023 11:20 · Tara Cobham]

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!

[25 December 2023 10:55 · Tara Cobham]

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.

A father filming his little girl as she opens up one of her Christmas presents (Getty Images)

[25 December 2023 10:10 · Tara Cobham]

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.

Santa Claus stands in front of the North Pole post office (Anchorage Daily News)

[25 December 2023 09:22 · Tara Cobham]

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.

People will be waking up across the UK to stockings filled with presents at the ends of their beds (PA Archive)

[25 December 2023 09:18 · Tara Cobham]

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.

[25 December 2023 08:33 · Tara Cobham]

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.

People reflected in a mirror at a restaurant on Christmas Eve in the US this year (REUTERS)

[25 December 2023 08:00 · Namita Singh]

A glimpse inside Norad's Santa tracker

[25 December 2023 07:00 · Namita Singh]

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.

You can also track when he will be in your area, using Facebook and X.

[25 December 2023 06:00 · Namita Singh]

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.

[25 December 2023 05:00 · Namita Singh]

‘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.”