Impinging jets are a means of achieving high heat transfer coefficients both locally and on an area averaged basis. The temporal nature of both the fluid flow and heat transfer has been investigated for Reynolds numbers from 10,000 to 30,000 and non-dimensional surface to jet exit distance, HID, from 0.5 to 8. At the impingement surface simultaneous acquisition of both local heat flux and local velocity signal has facilitated a comprehensive analysis of the effect that fluid flow has on the heat transfer. Results are presented in the form of surface heat transfer and fluid velocity signal spectra, and coherence and phase difference between the corresponding velocity and heat flux signals. It has been shown that the evolution of vortices with distance from the jet exit has an influence on the magnitude of the heat transfer coefficient in the wall jet. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.