{"id":2452564,"date":"2019-12-24T16:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T23:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=318263"},"modified":"2019-12-24T16:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-24T23:48:00","slug":"for-the-64th-year-norad-helps-the-world-track-santa-claus-on-christmas-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/for-the-64th-year-norad-helps-the-world-track-santa-claus-on-christmas-eve\/","title":{"rendered":"For the 64th year, NORAD helps the world track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.8328741965106\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-318263-772\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358051018550-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358051018550-1024x612.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP Photo\/David Zalubowski | Monitors are illuminated in the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will answer an estimated 140,000 telephone calls from childfren and their parents who will be checking on the whereabouts of Santa Clau on Christmas Eve.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"3\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"17\">\n<p><strong>Monitors are illuminated in the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will answer an estimated 140,000 telephone calls from childfren and their parents who will be checking on the whereabouts of Santa Clau on Christmas Eve.<\/strong><br \/>AP Photo\/David Zalubowski<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358051018550-1024x612.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Monitors are illuminated in the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will answer an estimated 140,000 telephone calls from childfren and their parents who will be checking on the whereabouts of Santa Clau on Christmas Eve.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358053633147-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358053633147-1024x714.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP Photo\/David Zalubowski | A decorated tree stands in the NORAD Tracks Santa Center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will handle an estimated 140,000 telephone inquiries from around the globe from children and their parents on the whereabouts of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"3\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"17\">\n<p><strong>A decorated tree stands in the NORAD Tracks Santa Center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will handle an estimated 140,000 telephone inquiries from around the globe from children and their parents on the whereabouts of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.<\/strong><br \/>AP Photo\/David Zalubowski<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358053633147-1024x714.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"A decorated tree stands in the NORAD Tracks Santa Center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will handle an estimated 140,000 telephone inquiries from around the globe from children and their parents on the whereabouts of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358055774032-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358055774032-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP Photo\/David Zalubowski | Canadian Armed Forces Major Andrew Hennessy, of Armstrong, B.C., talks about the volunteer effort in the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will answer an estimated 140,000 telephone inquiries to learn of the whereabouts of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"4.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"20\">\n<p><strong>Canadian Armed Forces Major Andrew Hennessy, of Armstrong, B.C., talks about the volunteer effort in the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will answer an estimated 140,000 telephone inquiries to learn of the whereabouts of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.<\/strong><br \/>AP Photo\/David Zalubowski<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/AP19358055774032-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Canadian Armed Forces Major Andrew Hennessy, of Armstrong, B.C., talks about the volunteer effort in the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will answer an estimated 140,000 telephone inquiries to learn of the whereabouts of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/for-the-64th-year-norad-helps-the-world-track-santa-claus-on-christmas-eve\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/for-the-64th-year-norad-helps-the-world-track-santa-claus-on-christmas-eve\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. \u2014 Depending on which country they\u2019re from, the kids may ask about Father Christmas, Papa Noel, Saint Nick or Santa Claus.<\/p>\n<p>But those who believe all want to know one thing: where in the world the jolly old man and his sleigh full of gifts are on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n<p>For the 64th time, a wildly popular program run by the U.S. and Canadian militaries is providing real-time updates on Santa\u2019s progress to millions around the globe.<\/p>\n<p>And this year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command is offering even more high-tech ways for children and parents to follow along.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.noradsanta.org\/\">Operation NORAD Tracks Santa<\/a>&nbsp;has evolved from a misdirected telephone call in 1955, to a trailer parked outside the command\u2019s former lair deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.norad.mil\/\">NORAD<\/a>&nbsp;\u2019s modern-day headquarters at Colorado\u2019s Peterson Air Force Base.<\/p>\n<p>Along the way, the tens of thousands of telephone calls fielded by NORAD volunteers each year have been augmented by an explosion of technology that lets millions track St. Nick\u2019s journey from the North Pole to the Pacific and Asia, from Europe to the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s portals include Alexa, OnStar, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and 3-D&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.noradsanta.org\/#section-village\">apps<\/a>&nbsp;developed for mobile devices by Cesium, a Philadelphia-based IT and defense contractor. The apps integrate geospatial and satellite-positioning technology with high-resolution graphics that display the actual positions of the stars, sun and moon and the shadows they cast at any point in Santa\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n<p>It takes a village of dozens of tech firms \u2014 including Google, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Bing Maps \u2014 to deliver the immersive effect for global Santa trackers, with some 15 million visits to the website alone last year.<\/p>\n<p>And it takes a village of 1,500 volunteers to field emails and the 140,000 or so telephone calls to 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723). They staff phone banks equipped with monitors inside a building at Peterson, which offers a view of snow-capped Pikes Peak to the west.<\/p>\n<p>More volunteers and firms donate food, water and coffee to those on Santa Watch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHi Santa Trackers! Lots of kids are waiting to ask you about Santa,\u201d a sign reads.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers are equipped with an Operations Center Playbook that helps ensure each and every caller can go to sleep happy and satisfied on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n<p>Longtime Santa trackers are familiar with the NORAD-Santa story.<\/p>\n<p>In 1955, Air Force Col. Harry Shoup \u2014 the commander on duty one night at NORAD\u2019s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command \u2014 fielded a call from a child who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a newspaper department store ad, thinking she was calling Santa.<\/p>\n<p>A fast-thinking Shoup quickly assured his caller that he was. And a tradition was born.<\/p>\n<p>Today, most early calls come from Japan and Europe. The volume soars in the U.S. and Canada, said program manager Preston Schlachter. United Kingdom callers ask about Father Christmas. Those in France generally seek Papa Noel\u2019s whereabouts.<\/p>\n<p>For team members, once \u201cBig Red\u201d \u2014 Santa\u2019s code name \u2014 is airborne, Schlachter said, \u201cit\u2019s off to the races.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never had a block of time move so quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/for-the-64th-year-norad-helps-the-world-track-santa-claus-on-christmas-eve\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monitors are illuminated in the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 1,500 volunteers will answer an estimated 140,000 telephone calls from childfren and their parents who will be checking on the whereabouts of Santa Clau on Christmas Eve.AP Photo\/David Zalubowski A decorated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 00:46:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}