We study the validity of Bethe's formula for the level density ρ(E ∗) with excitation energies E ∗ corresponding to relatively high temperatures ( T∼ 4–6 MeV). For this purpose we calculate in a self-consistent semi-classical model the dependence of the level density parameter a on the temperature/excitation energy of the nucleus. We show that the influence of temperature represents less than 5% up to T∼ 4–6 MeV or E ∗∼1.5–3 MeV/A . Together with an estimate of the energy dependent corrections this allows one to use Bethe's formula with the empirical zero-temperature value of the level density parameter up to such high temperatures.