El Nino Watch

Layer: land surface temperature

How hot the ground itself is during the day (Terra MODIS), not the air. On a sunny day the ground is often much hotter than the air.

Map layers

Land surface temperature is the temperature of the ground surface (soil, roofs, roads, leaves) seen by a satellite. It is not the air temperature from a weather forecast, and it is not the feels-like temperature. It is useful to spot heatwaves and very dry areas. Clouds hide the ground, so cloudy areas are empty.

How to read it

Warmer colours = hotter ground (see legend). Compare regions and dates rather than reading exact numbers.

Sources

Related

ENSO status now

ONI (NOAA CPC)
+1.80 °C, JJA 2026 (previous +1.39 °C)
RONI (NOAA CPC)
+1.36 °C, JJA 2026
Nino 3.4 weekly (NOAA CPC / OISST)
+3.0 °C anomaly, week of 16 Sep 2026 (SST 29.6 °C)