Particular embodiments described herein provide for an electronic device that can be configured to receive a plurality of thermal parameters for a device, identify one or more of the plurality of thermal parameters that affect a thermal response of the device, and create a thermal vector for the device using the one or more of the plurality of thermal parameters that affect the thermal response of the device, where the thermal vector can be used to predict a new thermal response of the device. In an example, the thermal vector includes weighted thermal parameters.