NORAD’s official Santa tracking begins in the early hours of Christmas Eve and runs through the night as Santa “travels” around the world.

Quick answer

  • The NORAD Santa Tracker goes into full Santa-tracking mode at midnight on December 24 (NORAD notes this as when tracking “starts”).
  • The public interactive tracker and phone lines typically come online around 6 a.m. Eastern Time on December 24 so people can follow Santa’s route and call in for updates.

How the schedule usually works

  • Before Christmas Eve: The NORAD Tracks Santa website and related content usually open on December 1 , with games, music, and info available even though Santa is not yet being “tracked.”
  • Start of tracking: NORAD describes the actual tracking as starting at midnight on December 24 (NORAD’s tradition language) as Santa departs the North Pole.
  • Public map launch: News coverage of recent years notes that the live globe/map experience that most people use to “watch” Santa generally launches around 6 a.m. ET on December 24 , when Santa is depicted approaching far eastern Asia.

How long NORAD tracks Santa

  • NORAD continues to show Santa’s progress across the globe for roughly 20 hours or more on December 24, following his stops across time zones.
  • Operations typically wind down in the very early hours of December 25 (around 2 a.m. ET for phone volunteers), once Santa is shown finishing deliveries in North America.

Extra context and “latest news”

  • The tradition dates back to 1955 , when a misprinted phone number led children to call NORAD’s predecessor by mistake; the command staff decided to “track” Santa for them, and it became an annual event.
  • In recent seasons, NORAD has added modern touches such as 3D web maps and integrations with smart assistants (like Alexa and similar services) so people can ask for Santa’s location by voice.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.