NORAD Santa tracker 2024 LIVE: Father Christmas and his reindeers finished their journey around the globe
SANTA Claus has officially concluded his annual journey around the globe as Christmas celebrations near the end.
In a statement provided by the head elf to the Reuters news agency, Santa – as well as his trusted reindeers Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen – all safely left Lapland at 9am UK time on Christmas Eve.
The Father Christmas paid a visit to several locations in the UK before heading further west.
Here at The Sun, we'll be providing updates throughout the day on the provided by NORAD — the North American Aerospace Defense Command — which delivers real-time tracking of Santa's movements.
You can follow our live blog, below, for all Santa's movements...
Satellites at the ready ...
NORAD have confirmed they are ready to track Santa. Stand by ...
Welcome to The Sun's Santa tracker live blog
Santa Claus is finally coming to town and we’re ready to watch his journey live as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) once again tracks him on his way around the globe.
According to the Reuters news agency, he set off at 9am this morning so put on Fairytale of New York and prepare for his arrival with us.
Merry Christmas!
Credit: YOUTUBE Santa better tread carefully when he tries to go down this chimney
Earlier this month we reported how "scrooge" neighbours demanded a family rip their Christmas lights down claiming it's "light pollution".
The Stonier family love their 23-year-long tradition of turning their house into a winter wonderland, but neighbours aren't as keen.
You can read the full story here ...
How does Santa manage to cross the world in just one night?
According to NORAD, the “only logical conclusion” as to how Santa is able to traverse the globe in one night is that he “somehow functions within his own time-space continuum”.
“NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa, it might last days, weeks, or even months,” the agency stated.
What time can we expect Santa Claus in the UK?
NORAD indicate flying conditions are good (see post at 09.07), so as long as the reindeers are in good form, Santa usually reaches Britain around midnight GMT.
He will, however, have plenty of stops to make first: including Oceania, Asia, Eastern Europe and much of Africa.
Google's Santa tracker is LIVE
Google has launched its of a Santa tracker.
It went live at 9am today and is similar to NORAD’s tracker.
Google had a countdown timer to Christmas Eve and various games available to play before Santa’s map went live.
We'll be tracking both the and the Google tracker so keep following us here for all the latest updates.
Want to track Santa? There's an app for that ...
Families can also download NORAD’s Santa tracker app on both the Apple app store and Google Play store.
Those who are interested in calling NORAD can use the phone number 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) on December 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Christmas Day ET.
Why does NORAD track Santa (2)?
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.
The organisation has enlisted volunteers over the years to specifically manage the phone calls coming in on Christmas Eve to ensure children know where Santa is during his journey across the globe.
Why does NORAD track Santa?
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.
Fortunately, Air Force Commander Harry Shoup who was manning the phones that Christmas Eve quickly realised the mistake and instructed his staff to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.
