According to NORAD, the “only logical conclusion” as to how Santa is able to traverse the globe in one night is that he “somehow functions within his own time-space continuum”.
“NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa, it might last days, weeks, or even months,” the agency stated.
NORAD indicate flying conditions are good (see post at 09.07), so as long as the reindeers are in good form, Santa usually reaches Britain around midnight GMT.
He will, however, have plenty of stops to make first: including Oceania, Asia, Eastern Europe and much of Africa.
Google has launched its own version of a Santa tracker.
It went live at 9am today and is similar to NORAD’s tracker.
Google had a countdown timer to Christmas Eve and various games available to play before Santa’s map went live.
We'll be tracking both the NORAD tracker and the Google tracker so keep following us here for all the latest updates.
Families can also download NORAD’s Santa tracker app on both the Apple app store and Google Play store.
Those who are interested in calling NORAD can use the phone number 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) on December 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Christmas Day ET.
Current conditions in the North Pole indicate good conditions for flying.
As more calls came in that night, Commander Shoup assigned a duty officer to continue answering the phone, birthing a tradition that passed over to NORAD when it was formed in 1958.
The organisation has enlisted volunteers over the years to specifically manage the phone calls coming in on Christmas Eve to ensure children know where Santa is during his journey across the globe.
The tradition began in 1955, when a child mistakenly rang a Colorado military command asking to speak to Father Christmas after a local newspaper ran an advert by a department store containing a misprinted phone number.
Fortunately, Air Force Commander Harry Shoup who was manning the phones that Christmas Eve quickly realised the mistake and assured children that he was indeed Santa Claus.