A system and method for evaluating cooling performance of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks and at least one cooling provider. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a plurality of measured inlet and exhaust air temperature values for the at least one cooling provider and a subset of the plurality of equipment racks, implementing a cooling model, the model including an ambient air temperature value, a plurality of inlet and exhaust air temperature values for the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, and a plurality of airflow values for the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider, adjusting at least one of the ambient air temperature value and each of the plurality of airflow values in the cooling model, adjusting the cooling model to compensate for the adjusted at least one of the ambient air temperature value and each of the plurality of airflow values in the cooling model, substituting a first subset of the plurality of inlet and exhaust air temperature values in the cooling model with the plurality of measured inlet and exhaust air temperature values, and predicting a second subset of the plurality of inlet and exhaust air temperature values for the plurality of equipment racks and the at least one cooling provider in the cooling model.