Trackers,

The early word from North Pole Flight Command is that there is some concern with summer thunderstorm activity in Samoa and Fiji, specifically. Being located in Fiji allows me to access local weather information. But we could use some weather watchers to feed us current data in:

Tonga
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu
New Caledonia

We also have concerns for wet weather in Sydney, Australia and other coastal cities of Australia.

New Zealand likewise has some concerns, especially with higher winds on Christmas morning.

We weather is not going to stop Santa. But it could make for a mess in some situations.

We will likely be sending in a lot of weather reports from these and other areas of Sector 1.

It’s time!

THIS IS FOR SECTOR 1 ELVES ONLY – for all freelance and North Pole Elves tracking Santa for Santa!

The Regional Tracking Center in Fiji, as part of our launch authorization procedures, is now ready to accept your check-in. Please see this link if you do not understand this process. It’s simple and it makes sense.

Please check in below if you live in Sector 1:

Your Elf Name *

Your Sector *

• Sector 1
• Sector 2
• Sector 3
• Sector 4
• Sector 5

Please tell us which days you are available (local time) *

• Saturday, December 21st
• Sunday, December 22nd
• Monday, December 23rd
• Tuesday, December 24th

Can North Pole Flight Command contact you if needed via SantaTrackers.net? *

• Yes
• No

Do you have anything right now from your area that you feel Santa or your Elf Supervisor needs to know?

Send it to North Pole Flight Command

Check-in means we are within 24 hours of being in the Red Zone. Being in the Red Zone means Santa is expected in your area within 24 hours. The Red Zone is the most critical time to be on your tracking game.

Please ask any questions you have in the comments below.

Thanks!

Trackers of Sector 5,

Over the past 15 hours or so we have received a good number of sleigh sighting reports. This has mostly come from the Northern USA and Canada.

The test flights of Santa’s sleigh have ended (for now) but there are plenty of sleigh aloft due to Operation Airlift. (Not as many as will be airborne on Christmas Eve, but still there are many sleighs up there). We really appreciate you keeping an eye on the skies.

But in researching these sightings and trying to match them up with flight records at North Pole Flight Command we have determined that some of these sightings are actually of meteors and not of sleighs. In fact, we have it on good authority that right now – from the last several days until at least December 24th – areas of our sector are experiencing the last Ursids Meteor shower of the year. This is a picture of what that meteor shower looks like in areas that have clear skies:

Something like that could easily be mistaken for a flying sleigh.

We have no criticism for those sending in pictures like this or reporting a sleigh sighting. We appreciate, in fact, your diligence right now in watching the skies.

How might you be able to distinguish between a meteor and a sleigh?

Honestly, you might not. It just depends on how close or how far away you are from it and maybe even the equipment you’re using to try and capture an image.

If it is close enough, you may see actual lights on a sleigh or even hear sleigh bells.

Of course, you’d get none of that with a meteor.

I’m not sharing this with you to dissuade you from watching and documenting the skies. I’m just letting you know some of these things you’re seeing might not be actual sleighs.

The odds of seeing a sleigh in flight is going up. By the time Santa launches there will literally be thousands of sleighs in flight and that continues all during the 30+ hours of Santa’s flight. So if you WANT to see a flying sleigh and you WANT to dedicate the time to doing it the chances of getting good results only improve over the next couple of days.

You might want to see what local weather forecasters are saying about the visibility of meteor showers in your area before you look to the skies. Be informed.

Thanks and happy hunting!

Hello Elves of Sector 1 –

Is anyone else getting excited? Santa’s launch is so close now.

North Pole Flight Command has been pretty quiet with me about information they need from our sector. Since we don’t have as many chimneys in our sector as the other sectors, and because we track Santa in most of our sector during summertime, the report needs they have from us are different.

But today I actually got a request I really want us to respond to. So, if you’re in Sector 1, please do this.

Flight Command is asking for a fresh weather report from All Areas of our Sector – no matter where you are. They are particularly concerned about Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and Guam – for whatever reason. So please send in a weather report TODAY, TOMORROW, and the NEXT DAY – first thing in the morning local time.

Also, some other news. NPFC is going to send an update on the deployment of the North Pole Navy. I don’t know what it is but it will evidently impact our sector. Maybe some time today we’ll see that news on their website.

And, finally, I received a note from the Office of Mrs. Claus. They are asking for any trackers who can provide photos of local Christmas displays – Christmas lights, trees, outdoor decorations, etc. They want these for some sort of presentation about Christmas in warm weather. If you have the time, please share any photos you might have via a photo report.

Thanks – R

North Pole Flight Command has informed us that we could see sleigh activity in the skies of Sector 3, particular over Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and parts of western Russia, in the later evening hours local time.

If you do observe any sleighs in the skies, please use the Sleigh Sighting Report.

Evidently the sleighs are an early part of Operation Airlift. They say they are scout teams. We don’t know for sure what they are scouting but they will be over our skies for at least the next “day or two”.

No other alerts or needs are known for Sector 3.

Please check back frequently.