Temperature climate layer

Extreme Maximum Temperature Map

Explore the highest modeled temperature at each location during 2011–2025. This map highlights severe heat extremes rather than typical summer conditions.

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

What this map shows

For each grid cell, the map shows the highest available hourly ERA5-Land 2 m air temperature found during the 2011–2025 analysis period.

It is not an average daily maximum, a mean heatwave temperature, or the maximum expected every year. One modeled event determines the displayed value.

How it is calculated

MetriClima converts available hourly ERA5-Land t2m (2 m air temperature) samples from Kelvin to degrees Celsius, selects the highest hourly value in each month, then the highest monthly value in each complete UTC calendar year, and finally selects the highest of those 15 annual maxima across 2011–2025. Daily maximum temperature is not calculated first.

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 extreme

The value is the highest modeled hourly temperature within this fixed 15-year analysis window. A longer or different period could contain a higher extreme. It is not a return-level estimate and does not define an upper bound on future heat.

°C / °F

Higher values indicate more severe modeled heat extremes during the analysis period.

How to interpret the map

Use this layer to compare the most severe modeled heat event within the 2011–2025 period. It should be interpreted as a period extreme, not as the temperature expected every year.

A large gap between this layer and Mean Annual Maximum Temperature indicates that the hottest event was much more severe than the location’s characteristic annual maximum.

Because duration is not represented, two places with the same extreme maximum may have very different heatwave climates.

Applications

  • Comparing severe heat extremes between locations
  • Providing climatic context for infrastructure, equipment, and material temperature-tolerance assessments
  • Providing climatic context for agricultural and ecological heat-risk assessment
  • Providing extreme-heat context for adaptation and resilience planning

Limitations

  • The metric contains no information about heatwave duration, humidity, nighttime recovery, or event frequency.
  • A single grid-cell estimate controls the result and may differ from nearby station or local extremes.
  • A different analysis period could produce a higher maximum; the map is not a forecast or design standard.
  • Hourly sampling may miss higher temperatures occurring between ERA5-Land hourly samples.

Explore this map by country

Open Extreme Maximum 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)