Where's Santa Claus?
Mendota Heights Patch is keeping an eye out to see where Santa Claus is in the world during his Christmas journey, thanks to the NORAD Santa Tracker.
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Santa and his elves are working hard on the final preparations for his Christmas Eve flight around the world.
And there's no doubt little boys and girls have started counting down the days until they can raid their stockings Christmas morning.
If you're wondering when Santa will make his to your Mendota Heights home, you can track his whereabouts right here on Patch when the official NORAD Santa Tracker launches.
Track Santa? Oh. Most definitely, yes.
NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is a United States and Canada bi-national organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning for North America. And it's been tracking Santa's Christmas Eve whereabouts since 1955, according to NORAD's website.
There are a few ways for you to track Santa this year:
- Stay right here and check back often as we'll be tracking him in real-time.
- Go to NORAD's "Track Santa" page on Dec. 24 and you'll be able to enter your location.
- Download the official NORAD Tracks Santa apps for smartphones and tablets.
- Call or e-mail NORAD Tracks Santa operation center at 1-877-446-6723 and noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.
Santa usually starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west, NORAD noticed, meaning he moves from the South Pacific to New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe before arriving in the United States and Minnesota.
NORAD has tracked Santa for more than 50 years, ever since a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. ad misprinted a telephone number for calling Santa. Instead of reaching the North Pole workshop, the phone number put children through to NORAD’s director of operations, who had his staff check the radar for Santa’s progress.
"Mountains of historical data and over 50 years of NORAD tracking information leads us to believe that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of people throughout the world," it says on the NORAD website.
For more information on NORAD, Santa and tracking, go to noradsanta.org.
