Santa will arrive tonight; heavy snows won't hinder his journey
<p>In this Dec. 24, 2014, AP file photo, NORAD and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Charles D. Luckey joins other volunteers taking phone calls from children around the world asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their homes, inside a phone-in center during the annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. Hundreds of military and civilian volunteers at NORAD are estimated to field more than 100,000 calls this year through Christmas Eve, from children from all o…
Santa and pilots
Check out his progress at www.noradsanta.org
COEUR d'ALENE — The North American Aerospace Defense Command is pinpointing Santa Claus' location all day today for the curious — young and old(er). This year marks the 60th year NORAD has tracked the big guy on Christmas Eve.
Parents and children expecting gifts from the jolly, bearded and big-bellied fellow can follow his progress around the world at www.noradsanta.org. NORAD uses radar, satellites, Santa cams and jet fighters to provide real-time updates on Santa's journey around the world.
A NORAD official said not to worry about the heavy snows in North Idaho.
"Santa received his weather briefings and the reindeer are being fed extra servings of food — all is well," Lt. Marco Chouinard, of the NORAD Tracks Santa Team, told The Press Wednesday afternoon. "The reindeer love the snow."
Not to get too technical, but Santa's sleigh is a versatile, all-weather, multi-purpose, vertical-short-take-off-and-landing vehicle.
"It is capable of traveling vast distances without refueling and is deployed, as far as we know, only on Dec. 24 — and sometimes briefly for a test flight about a month before Christmas," the lieutenant said.
All deliveries, he advised, will be on schedule, as long as children are in bed when Santa Claus arrives.
"He usually arrives between 9 p.m. and midnight" for kids in North Idaho, he said. "If the children are not in bed, he flies to the next house and comes back once they are in bed."
Starting at 9 a.m. today, trackers worldwide can speak with a live phone operator to inquire as to Santa's whereabouts by dialing a toll-free number, (877) 446-6723, or by sending an email to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.
The tradition started in December 1955, when a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement directed children to call Santa Claus directly, but the phone number given was misprinted. The store sought to direct kids to a holiday toy sale.
So Santa missed the calls. Kids didn't get to hear about the toy sale.
Instead, a red phone began ringing at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs. Crew commander Col. Harry Shoup picked up the first call and a child was asking to speak with Santa Claus.
Calls kept coming from children wanting to speak with Santa, filling the phone lines at CONAD, which was NORAD's predecessor. Shoup and the crew fielded calls all night and a tradition was born.