Unmapped Dataworks

Free tools · Measured from space

Heat in Ward 5, Laingsburg

Summer 2025/26: the ground in Ward 5, Laingsburg reached about 44 °C on clear mornings. That is the ground (roofs, roads, soil), not the air. The 8th hottest of 13 summers since 2014. In summer the ground here reads +1.7 °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: 40.4 °CSummer 1989 to 90: 40.7 °CSummer 1990 to 91: 39.7 °CSummer 1991 to 92: 39.3 °CSummer 1992 to 93: 40.7 °CSummer 1993 to 94: 44.0 °CSummer 1994 to 95: 38.4 °CSummer 1995 to 96: 35.4 °CSummer 1996 to 97: 37.5 °CSummer 1997 to 98: 37.7 °CSummer 1998 to 99: 39.6 °CSummer 1999 to 00: 42.6 °CSummer 2000 to 01: 46.0 °CSummer 2001 to 02: 43.6 °CSummer 2002 to 03: 45.1 °CSummer 2006 to 07: 43.6 °CSummer 2011 to 12: 44.5 °CSummer 2012 to 13: 43.9 °CSummer 2013 to 14: 41.6 °CSummer 2014 to 15: 44.2 °CSummer 2015 to 16: 47.3 °CSummer 2016 to 17: 44.2 °CSummer 2017 to 18: 43.4 °CSummer 2018 to 19: 39.9 °CSummer 2019 to 20: 45.8 °CSummer 2020 to 21: 42.6 °CSummer 2021 to 22: 41.7 °CSummer 2022 to 23: 44.5 °CSummer 2023 to 24: 44.0 °CSummer 2024 to 25: 46.7 °CSummer 2025 to 26: 43.7 °C199019952000200520102015202020252026
Each summer (December to February, named by the year it ends) on clear mornings. Bars start at 33 °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 8740.4 °C
Summer 1989 to 9040.7 °C
Summer 1990 to 9139.7 °C
Summer 1991 to 9239.3 °C
Summer 1992 to 9340.7 °C
Summer 1993 to 9444.0 °C
Summer 1994 to 9538.4 °C
Summer 1995 to 9635.4 °C
Summer 1996 to 9737.5 °C
Summer 1997 to 9837.7 °C
Summer 1998 to 9939.6 °C
Summer 1999 to 0042.6 °C
Summer 2000 to 0146.0 °C
Summer 2001 to 0243.6 °C
Summer 2002 to 0345.1 °C
Summer 2006 to 0743.6 °C
Summer 2011 to 1244.5 °C
Summer 2012 to 1343.9 °C
Summer 2013 to 1441.6 °C
Summer 2014 to 1544.2 °C
Summer 2015 to 1647.3 °C
Summer 2016 to 1744.2 °C
Summer 2017 to 1843.4 °C
Summer 2018 to 1939.9 °C
Summer 2019 to 2045.8 °C
Summer 2020 to 2142.6 °C
Summer 2021 to 2241.7 °C
Summer 2022 to 2344.5 °C
Summer 2023 to 2444.0 °C
Summer 2024 to 2546.7 °C
Summer 2025 to 2643.7 °C

The shape of a year

January: 45.2 °CFebruary: 40.3 °CMarch: 36.8 °CApril: 27.3 °CMay: 20.7 °CJune: 15.4 °CJuly: 15.5 °CAugust: 21.2 °CSeptember: 28.6 °COctober: 36.8 °CNovember: 42.3 °CDecember: 46.1 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Each month’s average since 2014, clear mornings. Bars start at 13 °C.
Show the numbers
Land surface temperature by calendar month, since 2014: every figure
When or whatFigure
January45.2 °C
February40.3 °C
March36.8 °C
April27.3 °C
May20.7 °C
June15.4 °C
July15.5 °C
August21.2 °C
September28.6 °C
October36.8 °C
November42.3 °C
December46.1 °C

Month by month

MonthLand surface temperatureClear looks
October 202638.4 °C1.6
September 202626.7 °C3.3
August 202621.4 °C3.5
July 202615.8 °C2.1
June 202612.3 °C1.3
May 202618.4 °C1.8
April 202620.0 °C1.1
March 202635.9 °C5.1
February 202638.5 °C3.3
January 202646.7 °C5.2
December 202545.8 °C4.4
November 202546.0 °C6.1
October 202535.8 °C5.2
September 202530.5 °C2.4
August 202522.6 °C4.0
July 202516.6 °C2.8
June 202514.8 °C2.4
May 202520.3 °C1.7
April 202527.6 °C0.8
March 202535.0 °C4.4
February 202543.8 °C4.6
January 202548.8 °C5.4
December 202447.5 °C4.4
November 202443.0 °C4.1

“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.

Laingsburg 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.

Unmapped Dataworks