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Heat in Ward 15, Msukaligwa

Summer 2025/26: the ground in Ward 15, Msukaligwa reached about 31 °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 −0.6 °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 1987

Summer 1986 to 87: 30.1 °CSummer 1990 to 91: 28.9 °CSummer 1992 to 93: 32.5 °CSummer 1994 to 95: 32.0 °CSummer 1996 to 97: 29.6 °CSummer 1997 to 98: 30.8 °CSummer 1998 to 99: 28.7 °CSummer 1999 to 00: 29.4 °CSummer 2000 to 01: 30.1 °CSummer 2001 to 02: 28.4 °CSummer 2002 to 03: 35.6 °CSummer 2006 to 07: 35.3 °CSummer 2011 to 12: 32.5 °CSummer 2012 to 13: 30.4 °CSummer 2014 to 15: 34.3 °CSummer 2015 to 16: 35.1 °CSummer 2016 to 17: 34.2 °CSummer 2017 to 18: 33.7 °CSummer 2018 to 19: 33.2 °CSummer 2019 to 20: 34.0 °CSummer 2020 to 21: 33.5 °CSummer 2021 to 22: 29.5 °CSummer 2022 to 23: 30.5 °CSummer 2023 to 24: 31.4 °CSummer 2024 to 25: 34.2 °CSummer 2025 to 26: 30.9 °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 8730.1 °C
Summer 1990 to 9128.9 °C
Summer 1992 to 9332.5 °C
Summer 1994 to 9532.0 °C
Summer 1996 to 9729.6 °C
Summer 1997 to 9830.8 °C
Summer 1998 to 9928.7 °C
Summer 1999 to 0029.4 °C
Summer 2000 to 0130.1 °C
Summer 2001 to 0228.4 °C
Summer 2002 to 0335.6 °C
Summer 2006 to 0735.3 °C
Summer 2011 to 1232.5 °C
Summer 2012 to 1330.4 °C
Summer 2014 to 1534.3 °C
Summer 2015 to 1635.1 °C
Summer 2016 to 1734.2 °C
Summer 2017 to 1833.7 °C
Summer 2018 to 1933.2 °C
Summer 2019 to 2034.0 °C
Summer 2020 to 2133.5 °C
Summer 2021 to 2229.5 °C
Summer 2022 to 2330.5 °C
Summer 2023 to 2431.4 °C
Summer 2024 to 2534.2 °C
Summer 2025 to 2630.9 °C

The shape of a year

January: 32.5 °CFebruary: 30.6 °CMarch: 27.9 °CApril: 24.1 °CMay: 20.6 °CJune: 17.5 °CJuly: 17.8 °CAugust: 24.4 °CSeptember: 30.9 °COctober: 35.8 °CNovember: 34.7 °CDecember: 35.2 °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
January32.5 °C
February30.6 °C
March27.9 °C
April24.1 °C
May20.6 °C
June17.5 °C
July17.8 °C
August24.4 °C
September30.9 °C
October35.8 °C
November34.7 °C
December35.2 °C

Month by month

MonthLand surface temperatureClear looks
October 202635.2 °C5.2
September 202629.4 °C3.3
August 202622.4 °C6.4
July 202618.2 °C5.8
June 202617.4 °C4.6
May 202619.5 °C6.5
April 202625.5 °C1.7
March 202626.1 °C1.1
February 202631.5 °C3.8
January 202630.6 °C1.7
December 202530.6 °C2.3
November 202525.7 °C0.3
October 202532.4 °C3.7
September 202530.7 °C4.4
August 202522.3 °C6.1
July 202517.5 °C3.9
June 202516.5 °C5.0
May 202518.7 °C4.7
April 202522.9 °C3.4
March 202527.9 °C1.2
February 202527.9 °C1.1
January 202531.7 °C2.8
December 202442.9 °C1.1
November 202438.5 °C3.6

“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.

Msukaligwa 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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