How far did Santa reach? When will he arrive in the US?

Santa Claus departed the North Pole at around 4am ET and as going by the live tracking of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), Santa and his eight reindeer will enter the US between 9pm ET and midnight. Norad's live tracking of Santa goes back years and every Christmas eve, Norad provides real-time tracking of Santa's sleigh.

In 1955m a misprint in a department store advertisement made a child call a Colorado military command center asking to speak to Santa. Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup who picked up the call played along and pretended to be Santa. As more calls poured in, he had to assign an officer to respond to all the calls looking for Santa. Norad then decided to start this festive custom to live track Santa's journey.

Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the organisation to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online – in nine languages – as St Nick swoops along the earth’s meridians, the Independent reported.

What route does Santa take?
Santa starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west. Santa visits the South Pacific first, then New Zealand and Australia. From there, he travels across Asia starting with Japan. Then he goes to Africa and then to Western Europe, Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central and South America. But the route can be affected by weather, according to Norad.

Only Santa knows his route
“NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route,” the military organization’s website states, “which means we cannot predict where and when he will arrive at your house. We do, however, know from history that it appears he arrives only when children are asleep! 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!”