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Heat in Ward 33, Collins Chabane

Summer 2025/26: the ground in Ward 33, Collins Chabane reached about 41 °C on clear mornings. That is the ground (roofs, roads, soil), not the air. The 6th hottest of 8 summers since 2014. In summer the ground here reads about the same as 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: 39.6 °CSummer 1992 to 93: 38.8 °CSummer 1994 to 95: 41.3 °CSummer 2002 to 03: 45.5 °CSummer 2012 to 13: 43.4 °CSummer 2015 to 16: 47.5 °CSummer 2017 to 18: 51.0 °CSummer 2019 to 20: 44.9 °CSummer 2020 to 21: 39.9 °CSummer 2022 to 23: 40.8 °CSummer 2023 to 24: 42.7 °CSummer 2024 to 25: 40.5 °CSummer 2025 to 26: 40.7 °C199019952000200520102015202020252026
Each summer (December to February, named by the year it ends) on clear mornings. Bars start at 36 °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 8739.6 °C
Summer 1992 to 9338.8 °C
Summer 1994 to 9541.3 °C
Summer 2002 to 0345.5 °C
Summer 2012 to 1343.4 °C
Summer 2015 to 1647.5 °C
Summer 2017 to 1851.0 °C
Summer 2019 to 2044.9 °C
Summer 2020 to 2139.9 °C
Summer 2022 to 2340.8 °C
Summer 2023 to 2442.7 °C
Summer 2024 to 2540.5 °C
Summer 2025 to 2640.7 °C

The shape of a year

January: 42.5 °CFebruary: 39.7 °CMarch: 36.0 °CApril: 34.0 °CMay: 29.6 °CJune: 26.1 °CJuly: 26.6 °CAugust: 33.4 °CSeptember: 40.6 °COctober: 49.7 °CNovember: 49.2 °CDecember: 47.4 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Each month’s average since 2014, clear mornings. Bars start at 24 °C.
Show the numbers
Land surface temperature by calendar month, since 2014: every figure
When or whatFigure
January42.5 °C
February39.7 °C
March36.0 °C
April34.0 °C
May29.6 °C
June26.1 °C
July26.6 °C
August33.4 °C
September40.6 °C
October49.7 °C
November49.2 °C
December47.4 °C

Month by month

MonthLand surface temperatureClear looks
October 202641.4 °C2.1
September 202633.9 °C1.0
August 202628.7 °C3.0
July 202624.4 °C1.7
June 202624.4 °C1.7
May 202626.5 °C2.3
April 2026Seen too little0.1
March 2026Seen too little0.1
February 202637.3 °C1.0
January 2026Seen too little0.2
December 202544.1 °C1.8
November 202540.4 °C1.6
October 202546.4 °C2.2
September 202542.0 °C2.0
August 202533.4 °C1.1
July 202526.2 °C3.0
June 202525.7 °C1.3
May 202528.0 °C1.8
April 202532.4 °C1.8
March 2025Seen too little0.2
February 202537.6 °C0.4
January 202538.4 °C1.2
December 202445.4 °C1.0
November 202448.9 °C1.1

“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.

Collins Chabane 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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