Eyewitness accounts from across the globe report seeing reindeer and hearing jingle bells from above their homes as Santa Claus races against the clock to deliver presents. Father Christmas has a long journey ahead of him as he visits every child in the world to leave them presents. But how can you keep track of where Saint Nick is right now and how can you track him through the night?
Santa Claus’s entire trip is expected to last roughly 25 hours.
Two trackers have been created to keep tabs on where Santa is throughout the night.
The NORAD tracker is from a company which is usually responsible for defending US airspace and has been able to lock-in on Santa.
The Santa tracker also calculates which route he will be taking based on eyewitness accounts given in previous years.
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Santa tracker live: When will Santa Claus visit your home town tonight? (Image: NORAD/GETTY)
Santa tracker live: The Google tracker revealing the progress of Santa Claus (Image: GOOGLE)
Norad has confirmed that it has been closely monitoring Father Christmas’ movements for decades, however, it only started answering enquiries from the public in 1955 when a local advertisement inviting kids to call Santa Claus accidentally misprinted the number.
A NORAD spokesperson said: “Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called in were given an update on Santa’s position.
“Thus, the tradition was born.”
Google has also created a tracker which you can find here.
Santa tracker LIVE: Santa is currently making his way through southeast Asia (Image: GOOGLE)
So far, Santa’s sleigh has been seen travelling over hundreds and thousands of places including:
- Sydney, Australia
- New Guinea
- Northern Mariana Islands
- South Pacific Islands
- Kuril Islands
- Fiji
- Chatham Island
Express.co.uk will be keeping you updated on Santa’s whereabouts tonight, so make sure you are asleep in bed when he visits you.
Santa has made it to the UK (Image: NORAD)
Christmas Day
1.00am update: Santa hits Chile
Father Christmas has landed in Chile.
He was flyng across Antartica but now he’s in Chile.
Soon, he will be heading to the US.
11.45pm update: Santa has arrived in the UK
Father Christmas has just passed over southwest England near Poole, Dorset.
Children should be asleep by now to make sure they get all the presents they want.
11.15pm update: Santa cruising through the Sahara
Father Christmas is currently crusing through the Sahara Desert in Algeria.
He is currenrly heading for Togo in West Africa.
10.30pm update: Santa just three hours from the UK
Father Christmas is now three hours from touching down in the UK, where he will have delivered nearly five billion presents.
He is currently in Serbia, and will next arrive in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Children hoping to get a delivery will need to be asleep before they can receive anything.
8.30pm update: Santa delivers his four billionth present
Father Christmas has now touched down in Moldova, where he has given out his four billionth present.
He has now given out presents to well over half of the world’s population.
Santa’s path will see him travel next to Romania next.
8pm update: Santa visits Finland
Santa has now passed into the snowy wonderland of Finland.
There, Father Christmas has delivered nearly four billion presents.
Fins believe Santa Claus came from their home country, from a fell named Korvatunturi.
Santa tracker LIVE: Santa has now travelled across the Middle-East towards Europe (Image: GOOGLE)
7pm update: Santa delivers to the South Pole
Santa has now delivered a total of 3.6 billion presents, and one of his most recent stops was the South Pole.
The South Pole sits directly opposite Santa’s home, and is home to very few.
Various governments have permanently established bases on the region and its surrounding islands, and roughly 1,000 people live there during the winter.
They take part in research missions with several goals, among them monitoring global temperatures through history.
6.30pm update: Santa passes through the Middle-East
Santa Claus has now passed through Afghanistan, Iran and Tehran, and has landed in Kuwait.
There, he is delivering is 3.5 billionth present.
Santa will soon land in Turkey, where he is said to have been born thousands of years ago.
How fast does Santa travel?
Those tuning into Santa’s live path through the planet will have noted how quickly he is doing so.
St Nick is currently in Kazakhstan, having progressed thousands of miles from Asia and Oceania.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Santa has to travel a total of 316 million miles within 32 hours, meaning he must travel through the night at 1,800 miles per second.
5.30pm update: Santa arrives in Karachi
Santa has now landed in Karachi, where he delivered his three billionth present.
He has now delivered presents to nearly half of the world’s population.
5pm update: Santa delivers presidents in India
Santa has now looped through China and Russia and has made his way to India, where he is due to visit Mount Everest.
In India, he will deliver presents to children from a horse and cart.
4.30pm update: Santa enters China
Santa is now flying over China, where his next stop is Wulumuqi.
He will arrive in the area within the next minute, after which he will continue north.
He has now delivered a total of 2.5 billion presents, to just under a third of the world’s population.
Santa tracker LIVE: Just over 1,000 people live in the South Pole during winter (Image: GETTY)
3.45pm update: Santa delivers two billion presents
Santa has now delivered more than two billion presents as he rockets off the coast of Australia.
St Nick is now in Port Blair, of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the west of Malaysia.
3.30pm: Santa over Newman, Australia
Santa is now approaching Newman on Austalia’s west coast.
His next destination os Geraldton, and after that Perth as he moves through his final destinations in the country.
Currently, Santa has delivered 1.5 billion gifts across the planet.