Watch Live: Where's Santa? Tracking Saint Nick's Sleigh on Christmas Eve

Children of the world, tune in: Santa Claus is coming, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command is making sure the “bomb cyclone” hitting the U.S. or COVID-19 doesn’t sideline Saint Nick’s global travels. NORAD, the U.S. military agency responsible for monitoring and defending the skies above North America, has once again launched its Santa tracker as Mr. Claus sets off with his reindeer from his hometown on the Arctic Circle and makes his first stop in Finland. The Colorado Springs, Colorado-based agency’s Santa tracking service allows people to follow his Christmas journey through its noradsanta.org website, social media channels and mobile app. Each year, 150-160 volunteers crowd into a conference room at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, taking two-hour shifts to answer the phones as eager children call to see if Santa and his sleigh have reached their rooftops. All together, the agency will have 1,500 volunteers this year working on Christmas Eve, fielding more than 130,000 phone calls, beginning at 6 a.m. Eastern time on Christmas Eve. While some callers are able get through to a member of the military or other volunteer — maybe even the President, on some occasions — when they dial the NORAD Tracks Santa toll-free number, 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723), others will get a recorded update on Santa’s current location. Christmas Dec 23 Google Trends Reveals The Most Popular Christmas Cookies in Each State news Dec 22 These Photos Show the Many Ways Christmas Is Celebrated Around the World Lt. General David Nahom, a NORAD official based in Anchorage, Alaska, said the pandemic has not affected Santa’s busy delivery schedule and he doesn’t expect any impact this weekend. The freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall that’s disrupting holiday travel in the U.S. shouldn’t be a problem for a man who lives at the North Pole, Nahom said. “I think Santa will be right at home with the Arctic weather that’s hitting into the lower 48,” Nahom said. NORAD’s holiday tradition began in 1955 after a kid mistakenly called a Colorado military command asking to speak to Santa. More calls came in so the commander on duty assigned an officer to answer the Santa calls, and the tradition took hold.

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