This work presents a boundary-layer analysis about the natural convection heat transfer near a vertical truncated cone with power-law variation in surface temperature in a micropolar fluid. The transformed boundary layer governing equations are solved by the cubic spline collocation method. Results for local Nusselt numbers are presented as functions of vortex viscosity parameter, the surface temperature exponent, and the Prandtl number. The heat transfer rates of the truncated cones with higher surface temperature exponents are higher than those with lower surface temperature exponents. Moreover, the heat transfer rate from a vertical truncated cone in Newtonian fluids is higher than that in micropolar fluids. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.