Community Corner

When Will Santa Claus Arrive in Los Gatos?

NORAD tracks Santa's whereabouts on Christmas Eve.

—By Patch Staff

The tree has been trimmed. The stockings are hung. The cookies are made. The anticipation is overwhelming. So exactly when will Santa Claus reach Los Gatos? That is the big question.

And thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD, you can track Santa’s movements this Christmas Eve.

According to Noradsanta.org, NORAD has been tracking Santa’s whereabouts on Christmas Eve since 1955 “after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD (now NORAD) commander-in-chief’s operations hotline. The director of operations at the time, Col. Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.”

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The business of tracking Santa is pretty high-tech and involved these days. To make sure nothing gets past them, NORAD uses four systems to track the jolly man and his sleigh–radar, satellites, Santa cams and fighter jets, according to Noradsanta.org.

Visit Noradsanta.org for a detailed account of the four tracking systems and how they each work to ensure Santa’s whereabouts are accurately tracked, and check the website often today to see where Santa is throughout the night.

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