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Heat in Ward 11, Mangaung

Summer 2025/26: the ground in Ward 11, Mangaung reached about 37 °C on clear mornings. That is the ground (roofs, roads, soil), not the air. The 10th hottest of 12 summers 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: 37.7 °CSummer 1988 to 89: 30.2 °CSummer 1992 to 93: 44.6 °CSummer 1994 to 95: 36.7 °CSummer 1996 to 97: 33.4 °CSummer 1997 to 98: 36.0 °CSummer 2000 to 01: 36.5 °CSummer 2001 to 02: 36.2 °CSummer 2002 to 03: 38.4 °CSummer 2006 to 07: 40.1 °CSummer 2011 to 12: 35.4 °CSummer 2012 to 13: 35.1 °CSummer 2013 to 14: 40.2 °CSummer 2015 to 16: 40.6 °CSummer 2016 to 17: 39.7 °CSummer 2017 to 18: 43.4 °CSummer 2018 to 19: 42.6 °CSummer 2019 to 20: 34.7 °CSummer 2020 to 21: 37.5 °CSummer 2021 to 22: 32.1 °CSummer 2022 to 23: 37.6 °CSummer 2023 to 24: 39.1 °CSummer 2024 to 25: 41.9 °CSummer 2025 to 26: 37.1 °C199019952000200520102015202020252026
Each summer (December to February, named by the year it ends) on clear mornings. Bars start at 28 °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 8737.7 °C
Summer 1988 to 8930.2 °C
Summer 1992 to 9344.6 °C
Summer 1994 to 9536.7 °C
Summer 1996 to 9733.4 °C
Summer 1997 to 9836.0 °C
Summer 2000 to 0136.5 °C
Summer 2001 to 0236.2 °C
Summer 2002 to 0338.4 °C
Summer 2006 to 0740.1 °C
Summer 2011 to 1235.4 °C
Summer 2012 to 1335.1 °C
Summer 2013 to 1440.2 °C
Summer 2015 to 1640.6 °C
Summer 2016 to 1739.7 °C
Summer 2017 to 1843.4 °C
Summer 2018 to 1942.6 °C
Summer 2019 to 2034.7 °C
Summer 2020 to 2137.5 °C
Summer 2021 to 2232.1 °C
Summer 2022 to 2337.6 °C
Summer 2023 to 2439.1 °C
Summer 2024 to 2541.9 °C
Summer 2025 to 2637.1 °C

The shape of a year

January: 39.3 °CFebruary: 36.7 °CMarch: 31.6 °CApril: 24.8 °CMay: 20.2 °CJune: 14.5 °CJuly: 14.9 °CAugust: 21.0 °CSeptember: 29.9 °COctober: 37.2 °CNovember: 38.8 °CDecember: 40.7 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Each month’s average since 2014, clear mornings. Bars start at 12 °C.
Show the numbers
Land surface temperature by calendar month, since 2014: every figure
When or whatFigure
January39.3 °C
February36.7 °C
March31.6 °C
April24.8 °C
May20.2 °C
June14.5 °C
July14.9 °C
August21.0 °C
September29.9 °C
October37.2 °C
November38.8 °C
December40.7 °C

Month by month

MonthLand surface temperatureClear looks
October 202635.8 °C4.1
September 202628.2 °C2.0
August 202623.0 °C3.1
July 202610.2 °C1.9
June 202616.7 °C3.1
May 202617.3 °C2.1
April 202622.2 °C1.0
March 202629.6 °C2.0
February 202633.8 °C2.8
January 202642.0 °C3.0
December 202535.4 °C1.0
November 202537.1 °C3.7
October 202531.6 °C1.8
September 202531.6 °C2.9
August 202518.3 °C3.0
July 202514.4 °C3.0
June 202513.8 °C3.0
May 202518.7 °C2.9
April 202523.2 °C2.0
March 202536.0 °C1.5
February 202537.7 °C1.9
January 202540.6 °C1.0
December 202447.2 °C3.1
November 202442.1 °C2.7

“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.

Mangaung 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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