Temperature climate layer

Mean Annual Temperature Map

Explore the mean annual air temperature for each location during 2011–2025. This map provides a clear baseline for comparing broad thermal climates, elevation patterns, and regional temperature differences.

Explore Interactive Map General methodology
Source
ERA5-Land
Climate period
2011–2025 climatological average
Representation
°C / °F

What this map shows

Each mapped value represents the mean of the annual mean 2 m air temperatures for the 15 complete calendar years from 2011 through 2025. It combines daytime, nighttime, summer, and winter conditions into one annual climate indicator.

The value is not an average daytime high, an average nighttime low, or a current weather reading. It is most useful for recognizing broad warm-to-cold gradients and comparing the overall thermal setting of different places.

How it is calculated

MetriClima converts available hourly ERA5-Land t2m (2 m air temperature) samples from Kelvin to degrees Celsius and calculates monthly means. It combines those monthly means using each month’s available-hour count to produce the mean for each complete UTC calendar year and grid cell, then takes the arithmetic mean of the 15 annual means across 2011–2025.

Each available hourly sample has equal weight within its calendar year. Leap years contain more hourly samples within their own annual mean, but every annual mean receives equal weight in the 15-year average.

The same underlying temperature statistic is displayed in Celsius or Fahrenheit using unit-specific map bands.

Data source

MetriClima processes ERA5-Land surface data on the 0.1° latitude–longitude download grid. The physical spacing of this geographic grid varies with latitude. ERA5-Land is a land-surface reanalysis dataset providing consistent hourly climate variables.

This layer uses the ERA5-Land t2m variable, which represents air temperature 2 m above the land surface.

Provider
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), produced by ECMWF

Climate period and representation

2011–2025 climatological average

The map summarizes 15 complete calendar years. It describes the recent climate represented by that period and is not a standard 30-year climate normal.

°C / °F

Temperature bands express the same underlying value in the unit selected in MetriClima settings.

How to interpret the map

Higher values indicate a warmer overall annual climate, while lower values indicate a cooler one. Similar annual means can still hide very different seasonal patterns—for example, a maritime climate with mild seasons and a continental climate with hot summers and cold winters.

Treat the map as a climate baseline rather than a forecast. A location can experience individual days and years far above or below its mapped average.

Applications

  • Comparing the broad thermal climate of locations and regions
  • Comparing thermal conditions relevant to agriculture and ecosystems
  • Providing a baseline for climate-suitability assessments
  • Interpreting related heat, cold, and growing-season indicators

Limitations

  • An annual mean compresses the full seasonal and daily temperature cycle into one number.
  • ERA5-Land represents average conditions over a grid cell and may not resolve urban heat, frost hollows, coastlines, or steep elevation changes.
  • The 2011–2025 period is relatively short for climatology and should not be treated as a 30-year normal or a projection of future climate.

Explore this map by country

Open Mean Annual Temperature for a country to start the same interactive map focused on that geography.

Africa (54)
Asia (50)
Australia (14)
Europe (47)
North America (24)
South America (12)