A simple analytical model has been developed which describes the heating of a thin opaque target in air when subjected to irradiation from a high‐power pulse laser. Effects due to the formation of a laser‐supported absorption wave (LSAW) above the target surface are explicitly included in this model. The effective on‐target flux distribution is assumed to be described by a radially expanding Gaussian profile in order to simulate the effects of enhanced coupling dominated by uv emission from the hot expanding LSAW plasma. Target heating inside as well as outside the incident beam‐spot region is described. This model is an improvement over the previous approach [J.E. Robin, Appl. Phys. Lett. 30, 401 (1977)] which employed a radially expanding uniform flux distribution that was based on the assumption of a thermal‐conduction‐dominated enhanced‐coupling mechanism.