NORAD Tracks When Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4)- Volunteers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command are getting ready to monitor Santa Claus as he makes his storybook Christmas flight.
Technology and social media have become an important part of the U.S. and Canadian military tradition, and NORAD Tracks Santa has already attracted a record number of Facebook "likes." The volunteers will spend Thursday answering phone calls and emails from children wondering when Santa Claus is comin' to town. The helpers also post updates on the fabled journey to Facebook, Twitter and www.NORADSanta.org.
The 60-year-old program now has a control center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, and it generates enough statistics, anecdotes and stories to fill a sleigh:
In December 1955, a newspaper ad invited kids to call Santa, but the phone number it listed was for the Continental Aerospace Defense Command, the predecessor to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The officers on duty played along and began passing along reports on Santa's progress.
Kids can call 877-HI-NORAD or email noradtrackssanta@outlook.com starting at 4 a.m. on Christmas Eve. A volunteer checks a big-screen computer monitor and passes along Santa's location. Updates are posted at noradsanta.org, facebook.com/noradsanta and twitter.com/NoradSanta. Hundreds of volunteers work for 23 hours on the day - and the night - before Christmas.
