NORAD Santa tracker 2024 LIVE: real-time location updates as Santa Claus delivers presents to children around the world

Santa Claus has been flying over the Pacific Ocean for quite some time and is now approaching the east coast of Japan.

He dropped off presents in the Kuril Islands before returning to Russia.

He will reach Nogril soon.

Santa Claus has just finished delivering presents to children in New Caledonia, eastern Australia.

He is now on his way to Vanautu. There are many small island groups in this area – keep an eye out for the Solomon Islands soon too.

Santa Claus heads north again as he continues his journey around the world.

He is currently en route to Fiji, where it is around 12:15 am.

Santa Claus is approaching Antarctica, where he will visit all the hardworking scientists, far from their families, for research this Christmas.

He then returns north and resumes delivering in warmer temperatures.

He’ll be back in Queenstown, New Zealand in just over five minutes.

Santa Claus will now travel south, all the way to Antarctica, where he will deliver some very special gifts.

He visits the Mcmurdo research station, operated by the United States.

He’ll be here in about ten minutes.

Santa Claus has just landed in New Zealand.

He started delivering presents to children in Auckland, and later he will visit Wellington before heading north again.

We’ve just seen Santa Claus visiting the island of Samoa as he continues his journey south towards New Zealand.

He is now on his way through Tonga and has delivered more than 250 million gifts.

As Santa’s sleigh passed over the island of Nauru a minute ago, Norad’s satellites gave us an excellent overhead shot showing Rudolph leading the reindeer through the darkness of the night.

His bright red nose was clearly visible, meaning Santa will have no problem finding his way tonight.

Santa Claus has now left Russia – for now – and is still heading south on a course that will eventually take him to Australia and New Zealand.

His next stop is Majuro, in the Marshall Islands.

Santa Claus is currently traveling south towards the village of Esso in eastern Russia.

He’ll arrive in about five minutes.

There have been good flying conditions so far with no weather or travel delays, so it’s so good so far.

As Santa Claus heads towards Magadan, also in eastern Russia, he has already delivered no less than 62 million presents.

There is no rest for him and no break in his demanding schedule.

But don’t worry: he’s had plenty of practice.

Santa’s first stop is Uelen in Russia.

He is currently on his way there and will leave gifts of children’s stockings, shoes and all other items depending on local tradition.

Here’s our first look at Santa Claus as he travels around the world, bringing festive cheer and happiness to every child in the world.

He is currently still above the North Pole, but has already delivered some presents along the way.

Santa Claus has just left his home at the North Pole.

He will deliver presents to 2.4 billion children within 24 hours.

It’s a huge task, but we will be with him every step of the way. We’ll soon bring you his first stop.

We just heard from our elf sources at the North Pole that Santa is now getting ready to take off.

Stay up to date with all the latest updates…

After weeks of waiting, meeting thousands of children and overseeing the production of billions of gifts, Santa is surely getting excited for his big moment.

It may take 364 days of preparation, but his dedication to his craft is nothing short of a masterpiece.

The latest update from Norad is that Santa will be leaving within the hour.

His final preparations are almost complete and the world’s satellites are ready to keep us informed all the time.

As soon as Santa Claus goes on a trip, we get live updates on where he is, which country he is flying over and what time it is.

There is even a special camera on board, so we can follow his progress live.

Here are a few photos from last year’s trip.

Santa’s job is always difficult, and this year is no different.

According to the latest estimate by children’s organization Unicef, there are more than 2.4 billion children under the age of 18 in the world.

That’s a lot of presents!

Norad’s satellites and radar technology are now all ready to track Santa Claus as he delivers billions of presents in just one day today.

Now we’re just waiting for the big man himself to give the green light – and then we’ll let you know where he is all day long.

Here he is getting ready!

In addition to following our Santa tracker here, any children who want to know how his journey is going can call Norad himself.

Santa’s 1,000 helpers are on hand to keep them informed of his progress.

Norad’s Santa tracker is a 70-year tradition that started when a child accidentally called a top-secret U.S. military base at the height of the Cold War and asked to speak to Santa Claus.

The command’s director of operations, Col. Harry Shoup, answered the call. On the other side came a child’s voice asking, “Is this Santa Claus?”

After the first phone call in 1955, it became clear that a department store had accidentally printed the wrong number on an advertisement asking children to call Santa Claus.

As the phones rang, the staff was instructed to answer them like Santa Claus so as not to disappoint the children – and the Santa tracker started:

Sant’s elves have told us (and NORAD) that he is just making final preparations for his journey before leaving the North Pole.

The last of the presents are loaded onto his sleigh and he departs as soon as all security checks are completed.

After a few changeable weeks of weather in Britain and the rest of the world, there is some good news early this Christmas Eve.

Weather conditions are said to be good for flying, meaning there are no expected delays to Santa’s journey.

Everything seems to be under control in the control room, with Santa getting help with the route out of the US.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s Santa Tracker 2024! We’ll bring you all the live updates as he flies around the world today, aided by his team of loyal reindeer.