Oxygen red line data obtained by the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII) on board the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) between 1992 and 1995 are used to retrieve thermosphere temperature perturbation associated with magnetic activity. Using a statistical approach, we found maximum temperature perturbations of ~300 K at auroral latitudes. We show that the use of longitude sector magnetic indices allows a better characterization of the perturbation than the usual planetary indices. The magnetic activity dependence in the MSIS-90 and DTM94 empirical models is qualitatively in excellent agreement with our results. However, empirical temperature perturbations are underestimated by ~70%.