Was the forecast right for Chicago on Sat Sep 12?
Chicago, Illinois · daily high temperature in °C · forecasts from each model's archived runs, verified against the MDW observations
13 days out, 4 models put Chicago's Sat Sep 12 high anywhere from 19° to 25°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 30°. The day verified at 31° against the MDW observations — cloudy.
GEM landed closest, off by 0.4°. AIFS ran 3° cold.
What every model said, at every lead
Daily-high calls for Sat Sep 12 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 · 2026-08-28 | — | 31° | — | — | 26° | — | — | 26–31° |
| 14d · 2026-08-29 | 24° | 29° | — | — | 26° | — | — | 24–29° |
| 13d · 2026-08-30 | 25° | 25° | 20° | — | 19° | — | — | 19–25° |
| 12d · 2026-08-31 | 23° | 21° | 18° | — | 29° | — | — | 18–29° |
| 11d · 2026-09-01 | 25° | 23° | 35° | — | 28° | — | — | 23–35° |
| 10d · 2026-09-02 | 32° | 33° | 30° | — | 29° | — | — | 29–33° |
| 9d · 2026-09-03 | 22° | 35° | 22° | — | 30° | — | — | 22–35° |
| 8d · 2026-09-04 | 28° | 20° | 30° | 27° | 25° | — | — | 20–30° |
| 7d · 2026-09-05 | 28° | 25° | 30° | 30° | 29° | — | — | 25–30° |
| 6d · 2026-09-06 | 27° | 28° | 25° | 27° | 32° | 26° | — | 25–32° |
| 5d · 2026-09-07 | 27° | 29° | 27° | 27° | 31° | 28° | 27° | 27–31° |
| 4d · 2026-09-08 | 27° | 28° | 33° | 28° | 28° | 26° | 28° | 26–33° |
| 3d · 2026-09-09 | 28° | 29° | 30° | 27° | 30° | 29° | 24° | 24–30° |
| 2d · 2026-09-10 | 28° | 29° | 28° | 28° | 31° | 29° | 26° | 26–31° |
| 1d · 2026-09-11 | 28° | 30° | 29° | 32° | 31° | 29° | 30° | 28–32° |
| 0d · 2026-09-12 | 28° | 30° | 30° | 32° | 30° | 29° | 30° | 28–32° |
| actual | 31° |
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 MDW observations. Archive depth varies by city; receipts exist only for dates the archive watched arrive.