NORAD sees record broken on Xmas Eve
Source: Agencies |
December 26, 2011, Monday
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SANTA'S trackers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) say they are breaking records this Christmas Eve.
Volunteers at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado had fielded more than 80,000 calls Saturday evening, breaking its record, as they told the mostly young callers where Santa was flying.
Volunteers at NORAD Tracks Santa said kids started calling at 4am on Saturday to find out where Santa was.
"The phones are ringing like crazy," Lieutenant Commodore Bill Lewis said on Saturday.
The NORAD has been telling anxious children about Santa's whereabouts every year since 1955. That was the year a Colorado Springs newspaper ad invited kids to call Santa on a hotline, but the number had a typo, and dozens of kids wound up talking to the Continental Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor.
The officers on duty played along and began sharing reports on Santa's progress. It's now a deep-rooted tradition at NORAD, a joint US-Canada command that monitors the North American skies and seas from a control center at Peterson.
Santa's first stop in the US came shortly after 9pm in Atlanta, said Canadian Navy Lieutenant Al Blondin.
NORAD's Santa updates are blowing up on social media, too. In addition to the website and Facebook and Twitter pages, Santa this year has a new tracking app for smart phones. The app includes the Elf Toss, a game similar to Angry Birds.
Santa's NORAD Facebook page exceeded 920,000 "likes" by midafternoon Saturday.
Volunteers at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado had fielded more than 80,000 calls Saturday evening, breaking its record, as they told the mostly young callers where Santa was flying.
Volunteers at NORAD Tracks Santa said kids started calling at 4am on Saturday to find out where Santa was.
"The phones are ringing like crazy," Lieutenant Commodore Bill Lewis said on Saturday.
The NORAD has been telling anxious children about Santa's whereabouts every year since 1955. That was the year a Colorado Springs newspaper ad invited kids to call Santa on a hotline, but the number had a typo, and dozens of kids wound up talking to the Continental Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor.
The officers on duty played along and began sharing reports on Santa's progress. It's now a deep-rooted tradition at NORAD, a joint US-Canada command that monitors the North American skies and seas from a control center at Peterson.
Santa's first stop in the US came shortly after 9pm in Atlanta, said Canadian Navy Lieutenant Al Blondin.
NORAD's Santa updates are blowing up on social media, too. In addition to the website and Facebook and Twitter pages, Santa this year has a new tracking app for smart phones. The app includes the Elf Toss, a game similar to Angry Birds.
Santa's NORAD Facebook page exceeded 920,000 "likes" by midafternoon Saturday.
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