WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:02.000 NORAD Commander , General Glenn Van 00:02.000 --> 00:04.250 Herk joins us now . General Van Herk we 00:04.250 --> 00:06.417 know NORAD has been tracking santa for 00:06.417 --> 00:09.060 66 years . Can you tell us where Saint 00:09.060 --> 00:12.980 Nick is right now . Yes , he's in 00:12.980 --> 00:15.202 Russia . He just took off a few minutes 00:15.202 --> 00:17.091 ago out of the North Pole and our 00:17.091 --> 00:19.258 radars picked him up . Now we have him 00:19.258 --> 00:22.000 on satellite in Russia . Alright . Can 00:22.000 --> 00:23.944 you tell us a little bit about the 00:23.944 --> 00:26.056 history of Nora and how we came to be 00:26.056 --> 00:28.111 tracking santa for all these years ? 00:29.320 --> 00:31.431 Yeah , absolutely . It all started in 00:31.431 --> 00:35.390 1955 when a accident actually 00:35.400 --> 00:37.622 a incorrect phone number was printed in 00:37.622 --> 00:41.450 a department store advertisement that 00:41.450 --> 00:43.850 that advertisement actually had a phone 00:43.850 --> 00:46.460 number that resulted in calls to the 00:46.460 --> 00:48.850 continental uh Air Defense Command 00:48.850 --> 00:52.200 headquarters . Uh real quickly the 00:52.210 --> 00:54.321 Commander on duty figured out that it 00:54.321 --> 00:56.321 was a young child looking for santa 00:56.321 --> 00:58.432 claus . Uh he realized that he needed 00:58.432 --> 01:00.488 to keep answering those calls and he 01:00.488 --> 01:02.710 did . So then the history was born from 01:02.710 --> 01:04.770 that time , 66 years later , we 01:04.770 --> 01:07.410 continue to track Santa Claus . And I 01:07.410 --> 01:09.410 understand that there's a number of 01:09.410 --> 01:11.920 volunteers each year who take phone 01:11.920 --> 01:14.670 calls and emails and keep all of our 01:14.680 --> 01:16.513 Children up to date with Santa's 01:16.513 --> 01:18.569 whereabouts . So how do you go about 01:18.569 --> 01:20.791 tracking santa ? I mean he moves pretty 01:20.791 --> 01:23.013 quickly and I'm sure tracking his magic 01:23.013 --> 01:26.190 is pretty difficult . Well , there's 01:26.190 --> 01:28.134 several ways we start out with the 01:28.134 --> 01:30.190 radars that I talked about . We have 01:30.190 --> 01:32.023 radars that stretched across the 01:32.023 --> 01:34.246 northern part of Canada . Into Alaska , 01:34.246 --> 01:36.357 Those radars detect him normally when 01:36.357 --> 01:38.468 he comes out of the North Pole . Then 01:38.468 --> 01:40.412 once Rudolph gets going , his nose 01:40.412 --> 01:42.579 gives off an infrared signature . Were 01:42.579 --> 01:44.690 able to track that on satellite as he 01:44.690 --> 01:46.912 approaches North America . The Canadian 01:46.912 --> 01:49.640 cF 18 fighters and U . S . F 15 , F 16 01:49.650 --> 01:52.190 and F 20 two's are also able to track 01:52.190 --> 01:54.301 him and ensure a safe passage through 01:54.301 --> 01:56.710 north America . Is there anything that 01:56.710 --> 01:58.710 can disrupt the radar system that's 01:58.710 --> 02:00.877 used to track santa an extreme weather 02:00.877 --> 02:04.680 event perhaps ? Well , 02:04.680 --> 02:07.260 the radars are very , very capable and 02:07.270 --> 02:09.270 reliant . We we don't see very much 02:09.270 --> 02:11.420 disruption at all . Occasionally . 02:11.420 --> 02:13.590 Sometimes a large snow may cover the 02:13.600 --> 02:15.890 radars and we'll go out and clean those 02:15.890 --> 02:18.720 off right away . All right , General 02:18.720 --> 02:20.887 Glenn van Herk , thank you so much for 02:20.887 --> 02:22.942 giving us such an insight on how you 02:22.942 --> 02:25.109 keep track of santa . I'm sure there's 02:25.109 --> 02:27.510 plenty of kids who are very excited now . 02:27.510 --> 02:29.566 How you can just go online . Right , 02:29.566 --> 02:31.730 and and track uh santa in real time . 02:31.740 --> 02:33.573 How do you go about doing that ? 02:34.640 --> 02:38.390 There's multiple ways . W W W NORAD 02:38.390 --> 02:41.030 santa dot org online . Uh 02:41.040 --> 02:44.420 1877 . Hi NORAD . That's H I 02:44.430 --> 02:47.610 NORAD . N O R A D . Uh You can go on 02:47.610 --> 02:50.240 both android and IOS applications and 02:50.240 --> 02:52.407 download the applications for tracking 02:52.407 --> 02:54.810 as well . Now . I know it's been around 02:54.810 --> 02:57.032 for a long time . I remember growing up 02:57.032 --> 02:59.210 as a kid and tracking santa myself . I 02:59.220 --> 03:01.053 still do , I'm gonna do it again 03:01.053 --> 03:03.053 tonight as we eagerly await santa's 03:03.053 --> 03:05.110 arrival . So thank you again so much 03:05.120 --> 03:08.650 and merry christmas , merry christmas . 03:08.650 --> 03:09.360 Thank you jane .