In this paper the efficacy of a novel thermal imaging system designed for use in the study of local convective heat transfer is examined. The transient temperature measurements employed to calculate local heat transfer coefficients in this study rely on the temperature-sensitive fluorescence properties of a europium-doped lanthanum oxysulfide (La2O2S : Eu3+) thermographic phosphor. A series of temperature-time data sets acquired during the heat-up of a test surface, oriented normal to an impinging heated jet, are used to calculate the local heat transfer coefficient about the stagnation point. These results are qualitatively compared to theoretical predictions and previous experimental observations to evaluate the ability to detect expected flow-field phenomena, such as the initial thinning of the boundary layer near the stagnation point and the eventual laminar to turbulent transition of boundary-layer flow away from the stagnation point. In addition, the measured stagnation point Nusselt number data are compared with theoretical and pertinent empirical data. The agreement of the stagnation point heat transfer in this comparison is excellent, with the variation between measured values based on the laser-induced fluorescence transient surface temperature measurements and existing data well within the bounds of the experimental measurement uncertainty of the present technique.