Lt. General Thomas Carden Jr. joins AccuWeather from Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he explains how NORAD keeps track of Santa Claus during his travels every Christmas Eve.
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00:00All right, tonight is the night for the 69th year NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command,
00:09will be tracking Santa's travels across the globe overnight.
00:13And Lieutenant General Thomas Cardin, Jr. joins us now from NORAD headquarters on this big day.
00:19And, well, we appreciate you making time for us here.
00:23We wanted to ask you a few questions about the operations there with NORAD,
00:27and I understand that you monitor and protect our North American airspace.
00:31The additional mission tonight, though, is a little different.
00:34So how does it happen there at headquarters?
00:38Well, good morning and Merry Christmas from NORAD.
00:41We use a combination of our radars, satellites, and fighter jets that we use every day to protect North America.
00:48Today we just happen to have a very special aviator in the sky in Santa Claus.
00:54And, you know, how do families and children follow Santa's course?
01:00What will they see on the NORAD app and website?
01:03Can you break it down for us step by step?
01:07You know, our website, Santa, works to help improve it every year.
01:11If you go to www.noradsanta.org, you'll see where Santa was last sighted, where he's approaching next,
01:20about how long it's going to take him to get there.
01:23And you'll even get an approximate count on gifts that he's delivered to little boys and girls around the world.
01:30All right. This is pretty exciting stuff.
01:32And we wanted to know, you know, we're always dialed into the weather aspect of any story here at AccuWeather.
01:36So does extreme cold or severe weather impact Santa's trip and NORAD's work?
01:43Well, after 69 years of tracking Santa,
01:46we've noted that he has an amazing ability to navigate through even the most treacherous weather and safely arrive at his destination.
01:56And you mentioned that he's been able to navigate through treacherous weather here throughout history.
02:04How has technology changed, though?
02:06Now, like, how is NORAD better able to track Santa today?
02:11Well, we work every day.
02:14You know, we're a binational command between the United States and Canada to protect North America.
02:20Our radars, our satellites, and our fighter jets are continuously upgraded to protect the people of North America.
02:27And, again, today we use that technology for our very special aviator, Santa Claus.