Abstract The temperature dependency of the viscoelastic properties of magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) operating in the shear mode was experimentally investigated under broad ranges of strain amplitude, excitation frequency, and applied magnetic field. Experiments were performed with isotropic MRE samples with 25% volume fraction of carbonyl iron particles dispersed in the silicone rubber matrix under controlled temperature, ranging from −10∘C to 50∘C together with different levels of magnetic field density ( 0 to 1.0T ). The results revealed significant effect of temperature on the linear and nonlinear viscoelastic properties of MREs, in addition to the effects of strain amplitude, rate, and applied magnetic flux density. The temperature dependency of mechanical properties of an unfilled rubber matrix was also measured, which served as a reference. The shear properties of the MRE revealed reductions in both the storage and loss moduli with increasing temperature. The temperature dependency of the MRE, however, diminished under shear strain in excess of the critical strain. The results also revealed more pronounced temperature effect at higher temperatures and excitation frequencies, while it was relatively lesser with increasing magnetic field. Increase in temperature resulted in enhanced magnetorheological effect, while a clear trend with regard to the excitation frequency could not be established. Finally, a phenomenological model has been developed to predict the storage and loss moduli of the MRE as a function of excitation frequency, applied magnetic flux density, and temperature. The superb performance of the proposed model in predicting viscoelastic moduli under various operating and environmental conditions has been demonstrated through comparison of the experimental and simulation results.