With the news that Santa Claus has taken off for his annual Christmas expedition, many in the UK will be wondering when he is set to fly over the British Isles.
NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command, will track Santa throughout his entire expedition.
The group began tracking Mr Claus’ expeditions in 1955, with 2024 marking the 69th trip around the globe they have followed.
He departed on his journey at 9am GMT, but is traditionally believed to start on the furthermost time zones before making the journey way back across the world.
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The first to experience Christmas in the world will be the nation of Kiribati, whose children will be the first in the world to open Santa’s gifts.
This is because they live in the furthermost time zone forward, UTC +14.
Following his short journey to Kiribati, who have a population of just over a hundred thousand, the next major stop offs will likely be Australia and New Zealand.
Though his route in specific is a mystery, there is accepted wisdom from NORAD that can help predict when he will make his stops.
Following the furthermost time zones being supplied with presents under the trees of nice children, he will move westwards to match the sleeping patterns of children.
This is to ensure he is not caught at any individual house by kids because, as the song goes, he knows when you’re sleeping and when you’re awake.
NORAD shared insight on when most countries would be visited however, saying: "In most countries, it seems Santa arrives between 9:00 p.m. and midnight on December 24th.
“If children are still awake when Santa arrives, he moves on to other houses. He returns later, but only when the children are asleep!"
If, throughout the day, you want to track where Santa is, NORAD’s website found here is your best bet.
They also offer an app, and have a YouTube live stream that allows you to follow his journey around the globe.
If you doubt the near 70 years of work NORAD have put in, Google have also launched a competitor, Santatracker.google.com.
Google’s tracker may not have the military precision of NORAD’s, but sweetly does include the number of presents delivered to each country.
At the time of writing, Santa is stuffing himself down chimneys in the Marshall Islands whilst the reindeer presumedly catch a tan ahead of a long night of flying through glacial winds.
He has so far delivered over 3 million presents in just the short few hours since his journey began.
Topics: Christmas
Michael Slavin