NORAD Santa Tracker 2026: Last Year's Hours by Time Zone, the Phone Number and When the Website Starts

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has not yet announced its 2026 Santa tracking details, but its release of Nov. 28, 2025, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) shows the pattern: the website launched on Dec. 1, and phone operators answered on Dec. 24 from 4 a.m. to midnight Mountain Standard Time (MST). Every hour below is from 2025 and is labeled that way. The 2026 release will replace them.

In 2025 the release came on Nov. 28; in 2024 it came on Nov. 29, according to the DVIDS NORAD page. Both releases came in the last days of November, so check noradsanta.org once they are out. In 2026, Dec. 1 falls on a Tuesday and Dec. 24 on a Thursday.

What does NORAD Tracks Santa do on Dec. 1 and Dec. 24?

NORAD’s 2025 release listed two start points. They are laid out here against the 2026 calendar, with the status of each.

2026 date	What NORAD did in 2025	2026 status
Tuesday, Dec. 1	The website, www.noradsanta.org, “will launch on Dec. 1” with Santa’s North Pole Village: a holiday countdown, games, a movie theater, holiday music and a web store	Not yet announced
Thursday, Dec. 24	Phone operators answered from 4 a.m. to midnight MST	Not yet announced
Friday, Dec. 25	Trackers could follow Santa until 3 a.m. on Dec. 25 through the phone system or the website	Not yet announced

The 3 a.m. end of tracking is shown as NORAD stated it, without a time zone conversion.

What time does NORAD start tracking Santa in my time zone?

NORAD gave its phone hours in Mountain Standard Time (MST) for 2025. We converted them to the other U.S. standard time zones and to UTC. All of these are 2025 hours.

Time zone	Phone line opens (Dec. 24, 2025)	Phone operators end
Hawaii Standard Time	1 a.m.	9 p.m. on Dec. 24
Alaska Standard Time (AKST)	2 a.m.	10 p.m. on Dec. 24
Pacific Standard Time (PST)	3 a.m.	11 p.m. on Dec. 24
Mountain Standard Time (MST)	4 a.m.	Midnight at the end of Dec. 24
Central Standard Time (CST)	5 a.m.	1 a.m. on Dec. 25
Eastern Standard Time (EST)	6 a.m.	2 a.m. on Dec. 25
UTC	11:00 on Dec. 24	07:00 on Dec. 25

If NORAD keeps the same 4 a.m. MST start in 2026, the line would open at 6 a.m. Eastern Time (ET). That is an assumption, not an announcement.

How do you reach NORAD Tracks Santa?

NORAD’s 2025 release gave these ways to follow Santa:

• Phone: 1-877-446-6723, which spells 1-877-Hi-NORAD.
• Website: www.noradsanta.org.
• App: the official NORAD Tracks Santa app, in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
• Social media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X.

The release named Amazon Alexa, SiriusXM and OnStar among the contributors. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) program NewsHour reported on Dec. 24, 2025 that more than 1,000 volunteers take part, and about 380,000 calls came in the year before, in 2024. Military Times, in its Dec. 24, 2025 story, put the website’s Christmas Eve traffic at about 2.3 million hits.

How did NORAD start tracking Santa?

It began with a phone call. Military Times reported that on Nov. 30, 1955, a call tied to a local Sears department store ad reached Air Force Col. Harry Shoup. It is unclear whether the number was misdialed or misprinted in the ad. Shoup answered the call, and Military Times names the Continental Air Defense Command as NORAD’s predecessor. Wikipedia’s article on the tradition says NORAD took it over in 1958.

NORAD’s 2025 release called that year the 70th anniversary year of the tradition, and it named 2024 as the 69th year.

Is there a printable timeline for kids?

Yes. The free printable below puts the five steps on one page: the website launch date, the phone number, the same start hour in five U.S. zones and the end of tracking. It uses 2025 hours and says so on the sheet. Pair it with the December 2026 printable calendar and the dates for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For store hours that day, see our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2026 store hours.