Ok, Elves – this is it! We’re officially invited by North Pole Flight Command to track Santa for Santa in this our final phase. That means we can now officially check in. Santa’s launch is a little more than 24 hours away. So we need to show we’re ready to do business.
Check-in below:
Friends in Sector 4 in South America, Greenland and in parts of the North Atlantic – we have been invited by North Pole Flight Command to begin checking in for tracking Santa for Santa. Please do so below as soon as you possibly can!
At 5am EST on December 23rd the Tracking Santa Around the World Live Radio broadcast begins.
This long-running Kringle Radio production is a Christmas Eve tradition in more than 160 countries around the world. It features North Pole elf news reporters stationed in locations around the world reporting on Santa’s journey. It is non-stop commercial-free Christmas music interrupted only by exclusive North Pole Radio News.
The program runs for two full days – from when the clock ticks over to Christmas Eve in the far corners of the world until after Santa returns to the North Pole.
We hope you can join us!
Elves,
We should be checking in soon but for now you should know that we’ve received a rather odd but specific request for an Air Traffic Report in Sector 3.
The west coasts of Portugal and Morocco – around ANY airport or military base especially – they would like to have further information about current air traffic levels.
If we have elves in Morocco or Portugal, we would appreciate your help. Just provide the information below:
Thanks!
Just a reminder that our last chat of the season will be an open chat with Elf Crash Murphy at 6pm EST in Elf Chat here on SantaTrackers.net.
Right after this chat Crash heads for a bit of a nap because the North Pole Radio News broadcast of “Tracking Santa Around the World” begins tomorrow morning at 5am EST.
By tradition, the broadcast begins just as the clock turns past midnight and begins December 24th in the far corners of the world. In the hours before Santa’s launch Elf Crash will be participating in the final test flight of Santa’s sleigh and reporting of that experience on the radio.
This chat is Crash’s last opportunity to talk with you before things take him away. He desires to answer your questions, whatever they may be. If you cannot make this chat with Crash we invite you to post your questions in the comments below.
We hope to see you there!
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.
Hi Trackers in Asia and the Middle East! We can now check in. Please do so in the form below:
Please let me know if you have any questions!
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:
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!
Greetings and Hola from Sector 4 HQ in Aruba,
An unusual request has just come in from North Pole Flight Command for select cities in South America – they want an updated ground report for:
Bogota, Columbia
Valencia, Venezuela
Recife, Brazil
Salvador, Brazil
Cordoba, Argentina
La Serena, Chile
I don’t know why they want this report or why these particular cities. But if you’re out there and can update information, let’s do it!
Gracias!
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!
Per plan and as scheduled, North Pole Flight Command has put all elves in all departments worldwide on alert status.
Alert status means that the next phase of Operation Merry Christmas is in process and that all elves need to be actively coming to North Pole websites with regularity to stay informed and to be ready for direction from their elf supervisors.
While we are still about 24-hours away from checking-in for Tracking Santa for Santa it is hoped that you can visit frequently with your Sector news page in advance of that event.
While major announcements are not expected at this time we want all elves to be eyes up and ready for anything.
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to support Santa and Operation Merry Christmas!
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
