NORAD Tracks Santa, NY National Guard Helps: Christmas 2019

It's a Christmas tradition, watching NORAD track Santa. New York Air National Guardsmen from the Eastern Air Defense Sector are helping out.

"NORAD has supported Santa Claus' Christmas Eve operations for 64 years and we are always delighted to help," said Col. Emil J. Filkorn, EADS commander. "I can assure everyone that EADS will do everything in its power to assist Santa with his critical mission."

Check out the NORAD Tracks Santa website. It features maps, games and activities. The website is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese.

NORAD started its Santa tracking operation at 2:01 a.m. on Dec. 24.

How to follow along

On Christmas Eve, children and parents can call the NORAD operations floor at 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or send an e-mail to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com for live updates.

The NORAD Track Santa effort today involves almost 1,500 volunteers who help answer the phone calls asking for an update on Santa's location. Private companies also contribute to the effort and allow Santa to be tracked online and on social media.

Santa can also be tracked on the website www.noradsanta.org, or on Facebook and Twitter @NORADSanta.

It all started in 1955 when a local media advertisement directed children to call Santa direct – only the number was misprinted. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang through to the Crew Commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center. Thus began the tradition, which NORAD carried on since it was created in 1958.

Located in Rome, New York, EADS is part of the U.S. Continental NORAD Region and monitors the skies of the United States east of the Mississippi. The organization is manned by members of the New York Air National Guard's 224th Air Defense Group.

The defense of Canada and the United States is NORAD's top priority. A binational U.S. and Canadian command charged with aerospace and maritime warning and aerospace control of North America, NORAD also monitors aerospace activity globally. But every year during the holidays, NORAD assumes the supplementary mission of tracking Santa as he travels around the world, according to Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, the commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command.

"We are proud to carry on the tradition of tracking Santa as he travels along his yuletide flight path," O'Shaughnessy, said. "The same radars, satellites and interceptors employed on Dec. 24 are used year-round to defend Canadian and American airspace from threats."