Friday, December 24, 2010

Tracking Santa with NORAD

Remember when you were a kid and the weather man "tracked" Santa on the Christmas Eve news broadcast.  It wasn't very high-tech; just a picture of Santa super imposed on the map.  Santa was always very close to the local area.  Many parents were probably thankful for that.  Anything to help get kids to bed on Christmas Eve.

When I was very small, the "weather girl" used a magnetic santa that was stuck on the board where they wrote the temperatures by hand.  Yes, I may have just given away my age, but this was a VERY EARLY MEMORY.  I was probably still in the cradle, mind you. ;)

At any rate, even Santa has gone high-tech; or at least the method for tracking him has thanks to NORAD.  NORAD's primary job is to make sure that this country is safe from missle & air attacks.  Thank you, NORAD!  In addition to that important job, they also add another responsibility on Christmas Eve.  They track Santa's journey across the globe.  With all that sensitive equipment, it's probably a little easier for them than it is for the weather man.

NORAD makes it easy to follow along via Google gadget, Google Earth, Facebook, Twitter, mobile phone. Want to follow along?  Go to the Official NORAD Santa page!