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Global Temperature Map — Calibrated Annual Mean Temperatures for 1000+ Cities
An interactive world temperature map covering 1000+ cities across 190 countries. From Doha's 27°C tropical heat to Reykjavik's 5°C cold — every value is the ERA5 reanalysis annual mean, calibrated against 56 WMO reference stations and reported with documented ±1–2°C accuracy.
How global temperature is calibrated
Most "world temperature map" results online return either a raw satellite layer with no station tie-in, or a Wikipedia table whose rows mix decades, station heights, and shelter types. GeoRank publishes one consistent dataset and one consistent reference period. We pull ERA5 monthly mean 2-metre air temperature from the Copernicus Climate Data Store on its 0.25° native grid, aggregate to a 0.5° (~55 km) reporting grid, then average the twelve months of the 1991–2020 climatology to get one annual mean per cell.
ERA5 already assimilates global station, ocean buoy, and satellite observations, so 2-metre air temperature is one of the better-constrained reanalysis variables — typical grid-cell agreement with surface stations is well under 1°C in the mid-latitudes. We cross-check our 0.5° output against 56 WMO reference stations and the national met service archives (NOAA in the US, the Met Office in the UK, DWD in Germany) to set the published accuracy bounds. The standard caveats — altitude, coastal land-sea contrast, urban heat islands — are documented in the methodology and surfaced in the layer passport below.
🌡
Temperature — annual mean
Calibrated
●●●●
SourceERA5 monthly mean 2 m air temp
Reference period1991–2020 climatology
Native grid0.25° (~28 km)
Reporting grid0.5° (~55 km) aggregated
Coverage1000+ cities · 190 countries
Accuracy±1–2°C typical · ±3°C mountain/coast
Urban heat islands are not modelled — values represent the mean of the 0.5° grid cell, not the downtown core. The 56-station cross-check sample is drawn from a 182-station WMO reference set documented in the methodology.
Full methodology →
Top 10 hottest cities worldwide (annual mean, calibrated)
These are the warmest major cities in the GeoRank dataset, ranked by calibrated annual mean 2-metre air temperature. Tropical capitals near the equator and oil-economy Gulf cities dominate the list. For affordable warm relocation options, the same map layers cost on top — try the cheapest countries to live ranking for the price-adjusted version of this question.
🌡 Top 10 hottest cities (annual mean)
- 1Bangkok, Thailand28°C
- 2Singapore27°C
- 3Doha, Qatar27°C
- 4Dubai, UAE27°C
- 5Manila, Philippines27°C
- 6Cairo, Egypt26°C
- 7Mumbai, India26°C
- 8Phoenix, Arizona (US)24°C
- 9Miami, Florida (US)24°C
- 10Brisbane, Australia21°C
Top 10 coldest capitals (annual mean, calibrated)
❄ Top 10 coldest capitals (annual mean)
- 1Reykjavik, Iceland5°C
- 2Helsinki, Finland6°C
- 3Oslo, Norway7°C
- 4Stockholm, Sweden8°C
- 5Tallinn, Estonia6°C
- 6Riga, Latvia7°C
- 7Vilnius, Lithuania7°C
- 8Moscow, Russia6°C
- 9Ottawa, Canada6°C
- 10Berlin, Germany10°C
Mediterranean & mild-climate benchmark cities
| City |
Country |
Annual mean |
Notes |
| Lisbon | Portugal | 17°C | Atlantic-tempered, 38°N |
| Athens | Greece | 17°C | Mediterranean basin, 38°N |
| Madrid | Spain | 15°C | Continental plateau, 40°N |
| Mexico City | Mexico | 17°C | High altitude 2,240 m, 19°N |
| Paris | France | 12°C | Oceanic, 49°N |
| London | UK | 11°C | Oceanic, 51°N |
How to use the global temperature map
The interactive GeoRank map renders the calibrated temperature layer as a global orange gradient — the darker the swatch, the warmer the annual mean. Pan, zoom, and click any pin for the annual figure plus the monthly profile. The same view can stack cost, tax, sunshine, and safety, which is the real relocation question: not just "where's warm" but "where's warm and affordable and visa-accessible." The companion World Sunshine Map uses the exact same calibration discipline for sun hours.
01
Open the temperature layer
Deep-link straight into the temp layer at
/?layer=temp. The orange gradient is the calibrated annual-mean field. Click any city pin to inspect the monthly profile.
02
Pin your home as baseline
Set "home" once and every other pin shows the delta from where you live now — temperature, sun, cost, all sourced and calibrated. Mexico City vs Bangkok, Lisbon vs Madrid, all instant.
03
Stack cost, tax, safety overlays
Temperature is one of seven calibrated layers. Stack
cost,
safety, and tax on top — the colour-coded chips on every pin tell you the trade-off at a glance.
04
Save, share, decide
Save shortlists, share a pinned URL with a partner, or open the result in
Compare for the full side-by-side. Free; no signup; the calibration formulas are public.
Temperature by climate zone
Annual mean temperature alone doesn't tell you everything — a coastal Mediterranean city at 17°C and a high-altitude tropical city at 17°C feel completely different in July. Use this rough zone mapping as the mental model before drilling into specific cities. For more granular monthly data, the climate & rain layer breaks each city into its full twelve-month profile.
| Zone |
Example city |
Annual mean |
Character |
| Tropical | Bangkok, Thailand | 28°C | Hot & humid year-round, monsoon May–Oct |
| Hot arid | Cairo, Egypt | 26°C | Dry heat, <30 mm annual rain |
| Mediterranean | Lisbon, Portugal | 17°C | Mild wet winters, dry warm summers |
| High-altitude tropical | Mexico City, Mexico | 17°C | Eternal spring; 6.5°C/km lapse offsets latitude |
| Oceanic temperate | London, UK | 11°C | Mild damp, narrow seasonal swing |
| Continental cold | Berlin, Germany | 10°C | Cold winters, warm summers, wider swing |
| Subarctic | Reykjavik, Iceland | 5°C | Cool maritime, short cool summer |
Why GeoRank's temperature map is different
01
One reference period, named sources
Every value uses the 1991–2020 ERA5 climatology — the current WMO-standard 30-year reference window. Source named on every cell. No "various" rows, no undated Wikipedia means. Methodology link on every chart.
02
Published accuracy bounds
±1–2°C typical, ±3°C in mountain or tight coastal terrain. Most temperature maps don't publish a single error bar; ours sits on the layer passport above. Cross-checked against 56 WMO stations and national met archives (NOAA, Met Office UK, DWD).
03
Set home, read deltas
Climate numbers in isolation are noise. Pin London at 11°C as home and Lisbon shows +6°C, Bangkok +17°C, Reykjavik −6°C. The whole point of
the tools suite is making destination numbers comparable against your current life.
04
Climate is one layer, not the answer
Temperature alone doesn't pick a city. The same map shows cost, tax, air quality, and safety — try
the comparisons hub for the bigger trade-off picture. Free, no signup, all data sources cited.
Related GeoRank tools & rankings
Frequently asked questions
How accurate are these temperatures?
±1–2°C for most locations after calibration against 56 WMO reference stations. Mountainous terrain and tight coastal microclimates widen to ±3°C because the ERA5 0.5° (~55 km) aggregated grid cannot fully resolve local lapse rates or land-sea contrasts. Each value represents the mean inside the grid cell, not a single weather station. Full bounds in the
methodology.
How is annual mean temperature different from monthly average?
Annual mean is the simple arithmetic average of twelve monthly means across the 1991–2020 climatology. It collapses summer and winter into one number — Lisbon 17°C, Madrid 15°C, Berlin 10°C — which is the most stable single comparator for relocation. Monthly means matter once you've shortlisted; the live map shows both, and the
climate layer breaks out the full annual profile.
Why is Mexico City 17°C when it sits in the tropics?
Altitude. Mexico City sits at 2,240 m elevation, and air temperature drops roughly 6.5°C per kilometre of altitude (the standard environmental lapse rate). At the same latitude, sea-level Bangkok averages 28°C — the ~11°C gap is almost entirely the altitude correction. Quito (2,850 m) and La Paz (3,640 m) follow the same pattern: tropical latitudes, temperate temperatures.
What's the difference between air temperature and "feels like"?
We publish WMO-standard 2-metre air temperature measured in the shade. "Feels like" indices (heat index, wind chill, humidex) fold in humidity and wind to estimate physiological perception, but those values are not standardised across countries and add noise to relocation comparisons. Doha at 27°C annual mean feels much hotter in July due to humidity; the air-temperature number stays comparable across cities.
Are urban heat islands modelled?
No. ERA5 resolves climate at 0.5° (~55 km) cells. Dense urban cores typically sit 1–3°C warmer than the surrounding grid cell in summer, but that signal is too local for a global reanalysis to capture. Treat the published number as the regional value; if a city is large and dense (Cairo, Phoenix, Tokyo), expect downtown to run slightly warmer than the published 24–28°C range.
Is the data current for 2026?
The dataset uses the 1991–2020 ERA5 climatology — the current WMO-standard 30-year reference window. Year-to-year mean temperature drifts upward by roughly 0.2°C per decade due to ongoing warming, so any single recent year may run 0.3–0.6°C above the climatology. We refresh the snapshot annually as new ERA5 monthly fields are released by the Copernicus Climate Data Store.
Find your climate match.
The map combines temperature, sunshine, cost, tax, and safety on every pin. Set your home as the baseline and see every destination as a delta from where you live now.
About the data: GeoRank uses ERA5 monthly mean 2-metre air temperature from the Copernicus Climate Data Store for the 1991–2020 climatology, aggregated from the 0.25° native grid to a 0.5° reporting grid, then cross-checked against 56 WMO reference stations and national met service archives (NOAA in the US, Met Office in the UK, DWD in Germany, IPMA in Portugal, AEMET in Spain). Urban heat islands are not modelled — values represent the regional grid cell. See the
methodology for source-by-source detail.
Sources: ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Data Store, EU) · 56 WMO reference weather stations · NOAA climate archives (United States) · Met Office UK (HadCRUT cross-reference) · DWD Germany · IPMA Portugal · AEMET Spain. Methodology and accuracy bounds at methodology.