PORTLAND, Oregon — The FAA cleared Santa and his reindeer for take-off!
You can follow his journey as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks him around the world. They start Christmas Eve and, like everything in 2020, it looks a little different than normal this year.
It takes a tech village to keep up with Santa; NORAD uses jets, radar, satellites, Santa cams and more.
The 142nd Wing in Portland is a NORAD base, meaning the F-15 fighter aircrafts they fly are ready to scramble at a moment's notice all year long. But on Christmas Eve, it's all about Santa for Portland's base and NORAD bases across North America.
Fifteen hundred volunteers come together to pull this off each year, along with community sponsors like Microsoft and Amazon to help cover costs.
While there are fewer call-takers because of social distancing requirements during the pandemic, you will still either speak to a live Santa tracker volunteer or get an up-to-date recording on where he is. You can also ask Alexa, use OnStar in your car, or visit NoradSanta.org and the app.
In 2019, Norad took 140,000 calls from across the planet on Christmas Eve and the NORAD Santa Tracker website had 15 million visitors. You can visit the website to play games, listen to Christmas music, or shop. You can also call 1-877-HI-NORAD on Thursday.
NORAD started tracking Santa 65 years ago when a local department store misprinted a Santa hotline number. A child called and got Col. Harry Shoup, who was on-duty that night. He quickly assigned people to help man the phone and tell kids where Santa was! Thus, a tradition was born.
