There is a new way to track Santa through NORAD this year!

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — This Christmas marks 70 years that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking Santa Claus. In 2025, there's a new way kids around the world will be able to check the status of Saint Nick!

For the first time ever, NORAD is adding web-based calling, according to Public Affairs Officer Alex Werden. The Santa Tracker website officially went live earlier this month, and kids will still have the option to call in via phone on Christmas Eve at +1 (877) HI-NORAD. There is also an app you can download on your phone called "NORAD Tracks Santa."

"Not only will this allow people from around the world who might not have been able to call us in previous years to do so, but we'll also have the ability to bring out a virtual interpreter support in over 200 different languages," Werden added.

NORAD has Santa cams in space that take video of him flying. These videos appear online almost every hour on Christmas Eve.

NORAD's Santa Operations Center is fully functional beginning Dec. 24 at 4 a.m. Children can call 877-446-6723 to talk directly to a Santa tracker, who will be able to tell callers his current location. Operators are available until midnight. More than 1,000 Canadian and American uniformed personnel, War Department civilians and local participants at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where NORAD is located, volunteer their time on Christmas Eve to answer the hundreds of thousands of phone calls that come in from around the world.

HISTORY OF THE NORAD SANTA TRACKER

The NORAD Santa Tracker came to life in 1955 because of an accident. A department store advertisement in the Gazette printed the wrong number for children to call Santa. The number reached the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), NORAD’s predecessor. Rather than turn kids away, Col. Harry Shoup had his staff give updates on Santa’s “location” using radar data. In 1958, NORAD was formed, and they continued the tradition.

"Not only do we get to perform this mission as NORAD... defending North America the entire year, but on the 24th, we get to explain that mission a little bit more," Werden explained. "The people who are calling us ask how and why we're tracking Santa. So, as a parent, you know, it's cool to be able to teach your kids a little bit about the members of the military and the units that help perform critical functions to allow everyday life to proceed safely."

Werden added that no taxpayer dollars are spent on tracking Santa. The program is possible thanks to corporate sponsors and volunteers.

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