diff --git a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
index 5644960bc..dabc074ae 100644
--- a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
+++ b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
@@ -2189,8 +2189,9 @@ global 2048 × 1024 grid, each weighted by its FRP in megawatts (so heat is
 radiated power, and raising the FRP slider does not dim areas where strong fires
 burn), Gaussian-blurred,
 normalized on a log scale against the 99.5th percentile and mapped through the
-same colors, from a faint ember edge through red, orange and gold to a pale
-white-hot core. Nothing is painted where
+same hues, from a bright red edge through orange and gold to a pale
+white-hot core. The edge starts more than half opaque, so regions far below
+the hottest ones still read over forest and savanna imagery. Nothing is painted where
 nothing burns (`src/data/firmsHeatRaster.js`). It is one full-globe imagery
 tile on the active imagery host (`src/layers/firms/heatImagery.js`), rebuilt
 on each data refresh or filter change (the first paint at once, later ones
diff --git a/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.js b/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.js
index 985699d7e..f6aadff3b 100644
--- a/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.js
+++ b/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.js
@@ -9,17 +9,20 @@
 export const HEAT_FLOOR = 0.03;
 
 /**
- * The FRP marker ramp as a continuous glow: faint ember at the edges, a
- * pale white-hot core where the most power burns.
+ * The FRP marker ramp as a continuous glow, from a red edge through orange
+ * and gold to a pale white-hot core. The edge is a bright red, not the
+ * markers' dark ember, and starts more than half opaque: most of the world
+ * sits low on a scale set by the hottest regions, and a dark translucent red
+ * vanishes into forest and savanna imagery.
  */
 export const HEAT_PALETTE = Object.freeze([
-  { at: 0.0, rgb: [158, 42, 27], alpha: 0 },
-  { at: 0.08, rgb: [158, 42, 27], alpha: 0.35 },
-  { at: 0.25, rgb: [210, 64, 31], alpha: 0.55 },
-  { at: 0.45, rgb: [240, 106, 40], alpha: 0.65 },
-  { at: 0.65, rgb: [251, 154, 46], alpha: 0.75 },
-  { at: 0.82, rgb: [253, 200, 74], alpha: 0.82 },
-  { at: 1.0, rgb: [255, 243, 176], alpha: 0.9 },
+  { at: 0.0, rgb: [232, 58, 30], alpha: 0 },
+  { at: 0.08, rgb: [232, 58, 30], alpha: 0.58 },
+  { at: 0.25, rgb: [242, 86, 34], alpha: 0.7 },
+  { at: 0.45, rgb: [248, 122, 40], alpha: 0.76 },
+  { at: 0.65, rgb: [252, 166, 52], alpha: 0.82 },
+  { at: 0.82, rgb: [254, 208, 92], alpha: 0.87 },
+  { at: 1.0, rgb: [255, 245, 190], alpha: 0.92 },
 ]);
 
 export function heatColorAt(t) {
diff --git a/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.test.mjs b/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.test.mjs
index a5cf7eccf..25c8b61fb 100644
--- a/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.test.mjs
+++ b/src/data/firmsHeatRaster.test.mjs
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ test('palette runs ember to white-hot and starts fully transparent', () => {
   assert.equal(heatColorAt(0.01)[3], 0, 'below the floor nothing is painted');
   const low = heatColorAt(0.15);
   const high = heatColorAt(1);
-  assert.ok(low[0] > low[1] && low[1] > low[2], 'low heat is an ember red');
+  assert.ok(low[0] > low[1] && low[1] > low[2], 'low heat is red');
+  assert.ok(low[3] >= 0.5 * 255, 'low heat stays visible on any imagery');
   assert.ok(high[1] > low[1] && high[2] > low[2], 'the core is paler');
   assert.ok(high[3] > low[3], 'hotter is more opaque');
   for (let i = 1; i <= 100; i++) {