Visitors to the site were greeted by a dark blue screen, which would usually feature a world map showing Santa’s journey across the world, complete with details about his travel.

The Santa tracker is now back and running, with the website claiming more than 960,000,000 presents had been delivered worldwide by 8.55 a.m. ET.

The apparent technical issue caused consternation on social media, with Twitter users expressing frustration that they couldn’t see how far Santa had traveled.

Charles Barratt, from the U.K., tweeted: “@NoradSanta what’s up with the Santa tracker.

“Seems to have been offline for over an hour. Kids growling at me, help……”

One user posted: “The NORAD santa tracker isn’t working this is devastating.”

Another wrote: “Why isn’t the santa tracker working, i might be 17 but i’ve watched this every year of my life.”

A third wrote “NORAD Santa tracker appears to be down today,” followed by a crying face emoji.

They added: “Much prefer it to the Google version but having to revert to that one for now.”

The person who runs one Santa tracker Twitter account said he had “no idea where Santa is,” due to the apparent crash.

Other Twitter users mischievously speculated whether the crash was linked to recent events.

Sharon O’Dea, a communications consultant based in the Netherlands, tweeted: “I don’t want to worry everyone but… Norad’s Santa Tracker is down.

“What’s going on? Has Elon banned live sharing of Santa’s ‘assassination coordinates’? Have the reindeer demanded WFH [working from home] this year?”

Earlier this month, Twitter suspended an account tracking CEO Elon Musk’s use of private jets, via publicly available data, along with those of several journalists who reported on the story.

Musk said the ElonJet account had been tweeting out “basically assassination coordinates.”

Another user added: “Norad santa tracker isn’t working, they must’ve given all the money for that to Ukraine this year.”

Newsweek has contacted NORAD for comment.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, is responsible for protecting the airspace of the United States and Canada. The Santa tracker has been operational since 1955.

Speaking about the tracker to NBC News in 2010, then Canadian Forces lieutenant general Marcel Duval, NORAD’s deputy commander at the time, said: “It’s really ingrained in the NORAD psyche and culture.

“It’s a goodwill gesture from all of us, on our time off, to all the kids on the planet.”

Duval added the Santa tracker doesn’t interfere in any way with NORAD’s primary role, of keeping the North American airspace safe and secure.

Freezing conditions have enveloped much of northern and central United States, ahead of Christmas, with at least eight states recording temperatures colder than the North Pole on Friday, according to AccuWeather.

Update 12/24/2022, 7:03 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include additional information.

Update 12/24/2022, 8:55 a.m. ET: This article was undated to note the Santa tracking website is working again.