An infrared thermometer, spectroradiometer and digital video camera were used to observe and document short-term evolution of surface brightness temperature and morphology at Santiaguito lava dome, Guatemala. The thermometer dataset shows 40–70 minute-long cooling cycles, each defined by a cooling curve that is both initiated and terminated by rapid increases in temperature due to regular ash venting. The average cooling rate calculated for each cycle range from 0.9 to 1.6°C/min. We applied a two-component thermal mixture model to the spectroradiometer (0.4–2.5 μm) dataset. The results suggest that the observed surface morphology changed from a cool (120–250°C) crust-dominated surface with high temperature fractures (>900°C) in the first segment of the measurement period to an isothermal surface at moderately high temperature (350–500°C) during the second segment. We attribute the change in the thermal state of the surface to the physical rearrangement of the dome's surface during the most energetic of the ash eruptions.