Modem thermal management may include a state machine monitoring a temperature associated with a modem, setting a mode in response to detection of a change in the temperature with respect to a threshold, and applying a set of one or more thermal mitigation actions associated with a current state of the state machine. The state machine may set a timer in response to detection of the change in temperature and then transition from the current state to another state in response to expiration of the timer. The monitored temperature may be a junction temperature or a skin temperature.