EE R F Bringing the mountain to the people
The only solely owned and operated newspaper on the Kamloops North Shore Published weekly in Kamloops, B.C.
Phone: 250-819-6272 • Fax: 250-376-6272 • E-mail: java_mountain_news@yahoo.ca Online: http://issuu.com/jmnews • Follow us on FaceBook Vol. 12 No. 23
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
NORAD tracks Santa on Christmas Eve
NORAD staff volunteers will be tracking Santa’s Christmas Eve flight around the world. Track Santa’s progress at www.noradsanta.org.
As it has done for the past 60 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be tracking Santa Claus on his annual Christmas Eve flight as he delivers presents to boys and girls around the world. The moment radar detects Santa’s lift off, NORAD begins tracking him using satellites 22,300 miles above the Earth. The satellites can detect Rudolph’s bright red nose, which gives off an infrared signal, with practically no problem. Once Santa is detected flying over North American airspace, Canadian NORAD fighter pilots, flying CF-18, take off out of Newfoundland to intercept and
welcome Santa to North America. Then at numerous locations in Canada other CF-18 fighter pilots escort Santa while he makes his deliveries throughout Canada. The tradition began in 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 commander-in-chief’s operations “hotline.” The director of operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check 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.
Since 1958, NORAD staff, family and friends have volunteered their time to personally respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. In addition, NORAD now tracks Santa using the Internet. Last year,
millions of people who wanted to know Santa’s whereabouts visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website. Live updates start at 1 a.m. Christmas Eve. To track Santa with NORAD, log onto the website at www.noradsanta.org.