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Heat in Ward 11, uMngeni

Summer 2025/26: the ground in Ward 11, uMngeni reached about 36 °C on clear mornings. That is the ground (roofs, roads, soil), not the air. The 9th hottest of 12 summers since 2014. In summer the ground here reads +6.6 °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 1991

Summer 1990 to 91: 32.4 °CSummer 1995 to 96: 31.1 °CSummer 1996 to 97: 34.2 °CSummer 1997 to 98: 38.7 °CSummer 1998 to 99: 33.2 °CSummer 1999 to 00: 34.2 °CSummer 2000 to 01: 34.4 °CSummer 2001 to 02: 32.9 °CSummer 2002 to 03: 37.1 °CSummer 2006 to 07: 39.7 °CSummer 2007 to 08: 39.1 °CSummer 2012 to 13: 36.9 °CSummer 2014 to 15: 35.9 °CSummer 2015 to 16: 38.8 °CSummer 2016 to 17: 42.4 °CSummer 2017 to 18: 40.0 °CSummer 2018 to 19: 36.0 °CSummer 2019 to 20: 38.9 °CSummer 2020 to 21: 39.8 °CSummer 2021 to 22: 37.9 °CSummer 2022 to 23: 39.3 °CSummer 2023 to 24: 38.0 °CSummer 2024 to 25: 35.8 °CSummer 2025 to 26: 36.4 °C19952000200520102015202020252026
Each summer (December to February, named by the year it ends) on clear mornings. Bars start at 29 °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, 1991 to 2026: every figure
When or whatFigure
Summer 1990 to 9132.4 °C
Summer 1995 to 9631.1 °C
Summer 1996 to 9734.2 °C
Summer 1997 to 9838.7 °C
Summer 1998 to 9933.2 °C
Summer 1999 to 0034.2 °C
Summer 2000 to 0134.4 °C
Summer 2001 to 0232.9 °C
Summer 2002 to 0337.1 °C
Summer 2006 to 0739.7 °C
Summer 2007 to 0839.1 °C
Summer 2012 to 1336.9 °C
Summer 2014 to 1535.9 °C
Summer 2015 to 1638.8 °C
Summer 2016 to 1742.4 °C
Summer 2017 to 1840.0 °C
Summer 2018 to 1936.0 °C
Summer 2019 to 2038.9 °C
Summer 2020 to 2139.8 °C
Summer 2021 to 2237.9 °C
Summer 2022 to 2339.3 °C
Summer 2023 to 2438.0 °C
Summer 2024 to 2535.8 °C
Summer 2025 to 2636.4 °C

The shape of a year

January: 39.0 °CFebruary: 36.9 °CMarch: 34.0 °CApril: 27.6 °CMay: 23.5 °CJune: 18.8 °CJuly: 19.2 °CAugust: 23.9 °CSeptember: 32.0 °COctober: 35.7 °CNovember: 38.6 °CDecember: 39.1 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Each month’s average since 2014, clear mornings. Bars start at 16 °C.
Show the numbers
Land surface temperature by calendar month, since 2014: every figure
When or whatFigure
January39.0 °C
February36.9 °C
March34.0 °C
April27.6 °C
May23.5 °C
June18.8 °C
July19.2 °C
August23.9 °C
September32.0 °C
October35.7 °C
November38.6 °C
December39.1 °C

Month by month

MonthLand surface temperatureClear looks
October 202634.5 °C4.0
September 202631.1 °C4.0
August 202622.5 °C4.0
July 202618.7 °C7.9
June 202618.9 °C3.9
May 202623.2 °C8.0
April 202630.0 °C6.0
March 2026Seen too little0.0
February 202635.5 °C6.1
January 202641.7 °C3.9
December 202532.0 °C2.7
November 202539.6 °C2.0
October 202533.9 °C5.9
September 202535.3 °C1.9
August 202522.0 °C3.3
July 202517.8 °C6.0
June 202518.7 °C5.9
May 202523.1 °C6.0
April 202526.2 °C1.8
March 202531.2 °C6.0
February 202535.0 °C4.0
January 202535.4 °C1.9
December 202436.9 °C5.9
November 202429.7 °C2.0

“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.

uMngeni 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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