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Heat in Ward 8, George

Summer 2025/26: the ground in Ward 8, George reached about 37 °C on clear mornings. That is the ground (roofs, roads, soil), not the air. Only the summer of 2024/25 was hotter since 2014. In summer the ground here reads −0.9 °C against its municipality’s average (since 2014).

Land surface temperature is how hot the ground itself is: roofs, roads, bare soil and leaves, as a satellite sees them from above. Landsat passes at about 10 in the morning and sees only through clear skies. It is not the air temperature a weather station gives: on a sunny day the ground is often 10 to 20 degrees hotter than the air, and hard, dark, dry surfaces heat up most while trees, grass and water stay cooler.

What it is not: not the afternoon peak, not the night, not the air you feel in the shade, and not a reading at any one house. A month with clouds rests on few clear looks.

Summer 2025/26

Every summer since 1987

Summer 1986 to 87: 29.5 °CSummer 1991 to 92: 31.7 °CSummer 1992 to 93: 31.4 °CSummer 1994 to 95: 29.3 °CSummer 1997 to 98: 33.8 °CSummer 1998 to 99: 28.9 °CSummer 2000 to 01: 35.9 °CSummer 2001 to 02: 32.6 °CSummer 2002 to 03: 37.5 °CSummer 2006 to 07: 34.7 °CSummer 2007 to 08: 31.7 °CSummer 2011 to 12: 35.6 °CSummer 2012 to 13: 34.2 °CSummer 2013 to 14: 36.1 °CSummer 2014 to 15: 35.4 °CSummer 2015 to 16: 34.9 °CSummer 2016 to 17: 35.4 °CSummer 2017 to 18: 35.1 °CSummer 2018 to 19: 35.0 °CSummer 2019 to 20: 35.8 °CSummer 2020 to 21: 36.3 °CSummer 2021 to 22: 35.1 °CSummer 2022 to 23: 33.9 °CSummer 2023 to 24: 34.6 °CSummer 2024 to 25: 37.6 °CSummer 2025 to 26: 37.1 °C199019952000200520102015202020252026
Each summer (December to February, named by the year it ends) on clear mornings. Bars start at 26 °C, not zero. Darker: Landsat 8 and 9 (from 2014); lighter: Landsat 5 and 7. A gap is a summer seen too little.
Show the numbers
Land surface temperature each summer, 1987 to 2026: every figure
When or whatFigure
Summer 1986 to 8729.5 °C
Summer 1991 to 9231.7 °C
Summer 1992 to 9331.4 °C
Summer 1994 to 9529.3 °C
Summer 1997 to 9833.8 °C
Summer 1998 to 9928.9 °C
Summer 2000 to 0135.9 °C
Summer 2001 to 0232.6 °C
Summer 2002 to 0337.5 °C
Summer 2006 to 0734.7 °C
Summer 2007 to 0831.7 °C
Summer 2011 to 1235.6 °C
Summer 2012 to 1334.2 °C
Summer 2013 to 1436.1 °C
Summer 2014 to 1535.4 °C
Summer 2015 to 1634.9 °C
Summer 2016 to 1735.4 °C
Summer 2017 to 1835.1 °C
Summer 2018 to 1935.0 °C
Summer 2019 to 2035.8 °C
Summer 2020 to 2136.3 °C
Summer 2021 to 2235.1 °C
Summer 2022 to 2333.9 °C
Summer 2023 to 2434.6 °C
Summer 2024 to 2537.6 °C
Summer 2025 to 2637.1 °C

The shape of a year

January: 36.6 °CFebruary: 33.7 °CMarch: 31.7 °CApril: 25.4 °CMay: 20.7 °CJune: 17.3 °CJuly: 17.4 °CAugust: 19.4 °CSeptember: 23.4 °COctober: 28.9 °CNovember: 33.4 °CDecember: 36.2 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Each month’s average since 2014, clear mornings. Bars start at 15 °C.
Show the numbers
Land surface temperature by calendar month, since 2014: every figure
When or whatFigure
January36.6 °C
February33.7 °C
March31.7 °C
April25.4 °C
May20.7 °C
June17.3 °C
July17.4 °C
August19.4 °C
September23.4 °C
October28.9 °C
November33.4 °C
December36.2 °C

Month by month

MonthLand surface temperatureClear looks
October 202633.1 °C5.3
September 202623.1 °C1.9
August 202620.7 °C6.7
July 202616.6 °C3.7
June 202616.8 °C2.0
May 202619.2 °C8.1
April 202620.5 °C7.1
March 202632.9 °C7.9
February 202633.2 °C5.1
January 202640.9 °C6.5
December 202537.3 °C6.9
November 202535.6 °C2.2
October 202526.7 °C1.3
September 202526.4 °C3.3
August 202516.0 °C2.7
July 202514.9 °C7.7
June 202516.9 °C7.6
May 202519.5 °C6.7
April 202524.7 °C7.4
March 202531.9 °C5.1
February 202536.3 °C4.6
January 202539.0 °C4.2
December 202437.7 °C5.3
November 202432.9 °C6.3

“Clear looks” is how many times the average 240 m patch of the place was seen through clear sky that month. Under one, part of the place was not seen at all, so the figure leans on the part that was.

George and its wards · Every municipality, ranked

Source

Measured from space by the American Landsat satellites: the ground, not the air.

How we worked this out

Landsat 5 to 2011, Landsat 7 to bridge the gaps, Landsat 8 and 9 from 2013: different satellites pass at slightly different times, so compare summers within the same years first.

What we changed: we kept only the clear land cells (no cloud, cloud shadow, snow or water, with a margin round each cloud), read them at 480 m, and averaged them over each 2026 ward each month; larger places are the sums of their wards.

Landsat imagery courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (Landsat Collection 2 surface temperature, through Digital Earth Africa’s copy).

Dataset: land surface temperature by ward, release of 13 November 2026.

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