How far away is Santa from visiting your house? Use these Santa trackers to find out. Photo by Walt Disney Pictures/Getty Images
How far away is Santa from visiting your house? Use these Santa trackers to find out. Photo by Walt Disney Pictures/Getty Images
You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why - Santa Claus is coming to town.
It’s been another huge year of making toys, drinking cocoa and hanging out at the North Pole for Santa, Mrs Claus and the elves, but the time has finally come for their busiest night of the year: Kirihimete.
Set to travel from the North Pole, down to the South Pole and visit all the good girls and boys in between, Santa and his reindeer are moving at lightning speed with only the most sophisticated of trackers being able to spot him - including the US Air Force’s Continental Air Defence Command (now called NORAD).
So, if you’re feeling way too excited to sleep this Christmas, wondering how far off Jolly ol’ Saint Nick is, we see you, we hear you and we understand.
Here are the best Santa trackers for Kiwi kids according to his Head Elf:
TV
TVNZ will have its very own Santa tracker running Christmas Eve. Photo / YouTube
If Mum and Dad have taken away your iPad for the night, because you refused to socialise with your relatives, don’t worry, TVNZ is here to save the day. Running on both TVNZ 1 and TVNZ 2 this year, you can watch Santa as he makes his way around the world in regular commercial breaks.
The first update is on 1 News so you know exactly when it’s time to lay out the snacks for Santa and his reindeer.
Over on Newshub it’s also good news because the Three news show will provide a weather forecast for his journey during the weather segment of the 6 pm bulletin, with the Newshub website providing up-to-date tracking information throughout the night.
Weather Watch will provide weather updates and Santa tracking tonight.
Weatherwatch.co.nz is also tracking Santa’s journey towards New Zealand and providing regular updates.
The weather is currently forecast to bring us a few showers around the country on Christmas Eve, so Santa might have a bit of rain and cloud to get through but with Rudolf’s bright red nose, she’ll be right!
You can follow the Weather Watch Santa Tracker here.
NORAD
THIS….THIS is NORAD Tracks Santa.
“But the real magic — that special moment the program offers — has been and will always be between the person answering the phone and the person on the other end asking, ‘Where’s Santa?’”#NORADTracksSanta#NTS23https://t.co/jLE9ZVf04a
NORAD is a secret military operation tasked with detecting incursions into US airspace, and legend has it that it was by complete accident that they began tracking Santa on Christmas Eve.
In 1955 after a newspaper ad accidentally listed the NORAD number as the Santa hotline, the secret military staff were a little bit confused but their commander quickly chatted to Santa’s Head Elf who agreed NORAD could track Santa and whenever children of the world called up, the military operation would inform kids where he was on his Christmas journey.
Now, 68 years later, they’re still keeping an eye on Santa and have a very festive website where you can too.
Google's Santa tracker is complete with games, videos and even the option to call Father Christmas.
Complete with a countdown and interactive games, Google Santa tracker is the perfect way to get in the festive mood.
Free to use and friendly for all ages, the games are made for one player or two and Santa’s Village includes fun quizzes, short videos to watch and storybooks to read. You can even call Santa - or if you’re feeling funny, you can read Santa’s jokes out to the whole family.
Head to Santa Update - the original Santa Tracker for all the Christmas information you need.
Brought to you by the North Pole Flight Command Centre themselves, one of the internet’s original Santa trackers has been running since 1991 and brings you all the most up-to-date Santa updates including all the details for the epic Christmas Party scheduled to take place when Santa returns from delivering presents.
As well as updates from North Pole Radio News, the website provides a countdown and Santa tracker so you have a more precise location than if he was on Snap Maps.
Flightradar24 will offer a Santa tracker again this year.
Starting from Christmas Eve, the flight-tracking website will be keeping an eye out for Santa, Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen as they speed their way around the globe.
Initially tracking Father Christmas was a challenge but thanks to an ADS-B transponder installed a few years ago and the reindeer antlers working as an additional antenna, Flight Radar 24 uses a mix of terrestrial and satellite-based ADS-B coverage to track Santa during his busiest night of the year.
Lillie Rohan is an Auckland-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things Santa tracking, Christmas songs we love to hate and all the work Christmas party characters you’ll most definitely see this season.
