While train strikes may be threatening travel chaos in the UK this Christmas, one person’s journeys will be entirely unaffected.
That’s right, Santa Claus will be able to travel without obstacle as always, delivering our presents upon a sleigh powered by his trusted reindeer companions.
And nowadays you can monitor all of Father Christmas’s progress live online as he travels around the world – here’s how to use Norad’s famous tracker.
How to use the Norad Santa tracker
Norad – the North American Aerospace Defence Command – has worked tirelessly each Christmas for over 65 years to provide detailed updates on Santa’s location, which you can find as soon as Christmas Eve begins right here.
Until it gets underway, anyone visiting the website sees a countdown, alongside the message: “Come Back December 24th to track Santa’s flight around the world.”
However, the organisation’s increasingly slick website now features a host of features to keep you entertained ahead of the big day – so it’s still well worth a visit.
These range from a gift shop for Norad merch and range of arcade games to Christmas music, movies and information on Santa’s story.
You can also follow the Norad tracker via email, at noradtrackssanta@outlook.com, and on the app, available from the Google Play store and the Apple Store.
Why does Norad have a Santa tracker?
There are various accounts as to why Norad undertakes its annual quest.
According to legend, it all began in 1955, when a business posted a local newspaper advert featuring a telephone number for a Santa Claus hotline for children to call on Christmas Eve.
Instead, they supposedly misprinted the number, and managed to give the contact details for Norad’s predecessor – the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center – instead.
Whatever the veracity of the story, Norad has enthusiastically risen to the challenge, drawing on its extensive resources to provide an accurate, up-to-date record of Santa’s location.
Norad explains how it uses its North Warning System of 47 radar installations across North America to keep track: “NORAD makes a point of checking the radar closely for indications of Santa Claus leaving the North Pole every holiday season.
“The moment our radar tells us that Santa has lifted off, we begin to use the same satellites that we use in providing air warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America.”
These satellites have infrared sensors, which are triggered by Rudolph’s bright red nose emitting a similar signal to that of a missile launch.
Norad adds: “While in the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15s, F16s or F-22s get the thrill of flying with Santa and the famous Reindeer.
“Even though Santa flies faster than any jet fighter (Santa actually slows down for us to escort him), all of these systems together provide NORAD with a very good continuous picture of his whereabouts.”
The process doesn’t always go without a hitch, though – in 2018, the air defence operators had to take to Twitter to assure anybody worried that the partial US government shutdown would disrupt them in their crucial task.
Source : INews