Was the forecast right for Chicago on Mon Aug 10?
Chicago, Illinois · daily high temperature in °C · forecasts from each model's archived runs, verified against the ECMWF IFS analysis
14 days out, 4 models put Chicago's Mon Aug 10 high anywhere from 25° to 30°;by the final call, the day before, the field had settled to a median of 27°. The day verified at 29° against the ECMWF IFS analysis, with 18.8 mm of precipitation — rain.
AIGFS landed closest, off by 1.1°. AIFS ran 3° cool.
What every model said, at every lead
Daily-high calls for Mon Aug 10 as each model's runs approached it — the last archived run per day. NBM and The Spread's own blend are consensus products and stay out of these ranges and rankings; the Chicago scoreboard shows them, labelled.
| Lead | AIFS | AIGFS | ECMWF | GEM | GFS | ICON | UKMO | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15d · 2026-07-26 | — | 28° | — | — | 29° | — | — | 28–29° |
| 14d · 2026-07-27 | 25° | 30° | 26° | — | 30° | — | — | 25–30° |
| 13d · 2026-07-28 | 28° | 26° | 30° | — | 28° | — | — | 26–30° |
| 12d · 2026-07-29 | 25° | 26° | 31° | — | 31° | — | — | 25–31° |
| 11d · 2026-07-30 | 28° | 19° | 29° | — | 22° | — | — | 19–29° |
| 10d · 2026-07-31 | 26° | 28° | 25° | — | 30° | — | — | 25–30° |
| 9d · 2026-08-01 | 24° | 25° | 25° | 30° | 26° | — | — | 24–30° |
| 8d · 2026-08-02 | 26° | 26° | 36° | 24° | 32° | — | — | 24–36° |
| 7d · 2026-08-03 | 25° | 24° | 33° | 27° | 29° | — | — | 24–33° |
| 6d · 2026-08-04 | 26° | 21° | 32° | 32° | 26° | 30° | 36° | 21–36° |
| 5d · 2026-08-05 | 28° | 23° | 31° | 32° | 26° | 32° | 36° | 23–36° |
| 4d · 2026-08-06 | 24° | 27° | 30° | 25° | 29° | 28° | 36° | 24–36° |
| 3d · 2026-08-07 | 25° | 24° | 29° | 26° | 32° | 29° | 32° | 24–32° |
| 2d · 2026-08-08 | 27° | 25° | 28° | 24° | 26° | 30° | 32° | 24–32° |
| 1d · 2026-08-09 | 25° | 28° | 27° | 27° | 26° | 31° | 26° | 25–31° |
| actual | 29° |
Read it honestly
This is one date, not a league table. A model can win a day it deserved to lose; rankings only mean something over a window. For that, see which model has been most accurate in Chicago — or every city The Spread scores.
Forecasts are what each model's archived runs said at the time, captured at The Spread's sweep times — never reconstructed after the fact. Truth is the ECMWF IFS analysis (temperature_2m_max). The actual values are the ones in hand when this receipt was settled, usually 2 days after the date; a correction published after that is not carried into it. Archive depth varies by city; receipts exist only for dates the archive watched arrive.