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December 21, 2023

The North American Aerospace Defense Command is ready to track Santa on Dec. 24, for the program’s 68th year. NORAD monitors and defends North American airspace 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. On Dec. 24, NORAD has one additional mission: tracking Santa Claus as he makes his way across the globe, delivering presents to children.

The NORAD Tracks Santa website (www.noradsanta.org) launched on Dec. 1. It features Santa’s North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, games, movie theater, holiday music, web store, and more. The website is available in nine languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, and new this year, Korean.

The official NORAD Tracks Santa app is also in the Apple App and Google Play stores, to count down the days until Santa’s journey on mobile devices. NORAD Tracks Santa will also be available on digital media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X, and on contributor platforms, Amazon Alexa, Bing, SiriusXM, and OnStar.

Trackers worldwide can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask our live operators about Santa’s location from 7 a.m. CST on Dec. 24 to 1 a.m. CST on Dec. 25. Also, website visitors will see Santa’s flight from 5 a.m. CST Dec. 24 to 1 a.m. CST Dec. 25.

The modern tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955 when a young child accidentally dialed the unlisted phone number of the CONAD Operations Center upon seeing an newspaper advertisement telling kids to call Santa. The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, answered the phone and instructed his staff to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.

Thus a tradition was born, and continued when NORAD was formed in 1958. Each year since, NORAD has dutifully reported Santa’s location on Dec. 24 to millions of children and families across the globe.