Free tools · Measured from space
Greenness in Ward 13, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
October 2026: much greener than a normal October in Ward 13, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (0.55 on the greenness scale; normal is 0.41). The satellite saw 100% of the area.
The greenness score (NDVI) is how green the land looks from space, from about 0 (bare ground, rock, water) to about 0.9 (dense green growth). It follows rain, season, crops and fire. A month’s figure is the mean over the whole place where the satellite saw the ground (clouds hide some).
October 2026
- 0.55On the greenness scale
- 0.41A normal October
- +2.12Well above normalSteps from normal: 0 is normal
The newest month seen over at least half the place. Digital Earth Africa publishes a month a few weeks after it ends.
The last twelve months against normal
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November | NDVI 0.51, normal 0.46 |
| December | NDVI 0.58, normal 0.53 |
| January | NDVI 0.64, normal 0.62 |
| February | NDVI 0.64, normal 0.67 |
| March | NDVI 0.68, normal 0.65 |
| April | NDVI 0.66, normal 0.62 |
| May | NDVI 0.54, normal 0.54 |
| June | NDVI 0.43, normal 0.45 |
| July | NDVI 0.36, normal 0.37 |
| August | NDVI 0.35, normal 0.34 |
| September | NDVI 0.47, normal 0.35 |
| October | NDVI 0.55, normal 0.41 |
| Month | Greenness | Normal | Against normal | Seen | Second reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2025 | 0.51 | 0.46 | +0.46 near normal | 100% | 0.48 |
| December 2025 | 0.58 | 0.53 | +0.55 above normal | 100% | 0.57 |
| January 2026 | 0.64 | 0.62 | +0.24 near normal | 100% | 0.60 |
| February 2026 | 0.64 | 0.67 | −0.29 near normal | 100% | 0.60 |
| March 2026 | 0.68 | 0.65 | +0.43 near normal | 100% | 0.66 |
| April 2026 | 0.66 | 0.62 | +0.56 above normal | 100% | 0.62 |
| May 2026 | 0.54 | 0.54 | −0.02 near normal | 100% | 0.52 |
| June 2026 | 0.43 | 0.45 | −0.41 near normal | 100% | 0.41 |
| July 2026 | 0.36 | 0.37 | −0.25 near normal | 100% | 0.33 |
| August 2026 | 0.35 | 0.34 | +0.17 near normal | 100% | 0.31 |
| September 2026 | 0.47 | 0.35 | +2.00 well above normal | 100% | 0.41 |
| October 2026 | 0.55 | 0.41 | +2.12 well above normal | 100% | 0.55 |
Pale bars: seen over less than half the place, so less sure. The second reading is from a coarser European satellite product; it reads a little lower as a rule.
Every year since 2017
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| 2017 | +0.44 (12 months) |
| 2018 | +0.04 (12 months) |
| 2019 | −0.12 (12 months) |
| 2020 | +0.19 (12 months) |
| 2021 | +0.61 (12 months) |
| 2022 | +0.90 (12 months) |
| 2023 | +0.64 (12 months) |
| 2024 | +0.19 (12 months) |
| 2025 | +1.07 (11 months) |
| 2026 | +0.46 (10 months) |
| Year | Greenness | Against normal | Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0.53 | +0.46 | 10 |
| 2025 | 0.56 | +1.07 | 11 |
| 2024 | 0.52 | +0.19 | 12 |
| 2023 | 0.55 | +0.64 | 12 |
| 2022 | 0.57 | +0.90 | 12 |
| 2021 | 0.55 | +0.61 | 12 |
| 2020 | 0.52 | +0.19 | 12 |
| 2019 | 0.49 | −0.12 | 12 |
| 2018 | 0.50 | +0.04 | 12 |
| 2017 | 0.53 | +0.44 | 12 |
Greenest against normal: 2025 (+1.07). Least green: 2019 (−0.12). Our monthly record starts in January 2017; the normal reaches back to 1984. A year’s figure is the mean of its months seen over half the place.
A normal year here (1984 to 2020)
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NDVI | 0.62 | 0.67 | 0.65 | 0.62 | 0.54 | 0.45 | 0.37 | 0.34 | 0.35 | 0.41 | 0.46 | 0.53 |
Source
Measured from space: not a crop or grazing assessment.
How we worked this out
Two readings: Digital Earth Africa (Landsat and Sentinel-2, 30 m) and, as a check, Copernicus’s 300 m NDVI. Ward by ward they move together (median correlation 0.98). From 2022 Digital Earth Africa reads about 0.01 NDVI further above CLMS than it did in 2018 to 2021, so part of a recent “above normal” may be the sensors rather than the land; CLMS, read on its own, shows the same greener years (2022, 2025 and 2026).
The normal for each month is Digital Earth Africa’s 1984 to 2020 average from Landsat. Above or below normal is measured in standard deviations of that month over those years: half a standard deviation or more is “above” or “below”, one or more “well above” or “well below”.
What we changed: we averaged Digital Earth Africa’s monthly NDVI over each 2026 ward at 240 m (its own 8 by 8 averages of the 30 m pixels) and wards up to municipalities, districts and provinces by area; CLMS’s three 10-day NDVI images a month averaged the same way.
NDVI Anomaly and NDVI Climatology, Digital Earth Africa (CC BY 4.0), modified; Landsat imagery courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey; contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2017 to 2026. Second reading: generated using European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service information (NDVI 300 m, version 3), modified.
Dataset: greenness by ward, release of 12 November 2026.