Was the forecast right for Minneapolis on Thu Aug 20?
Minneapolis, Minnesota · daily high temperature in °C · forecasts from each model's archived runs, verified against the ECMWF IFS analysis
14 days out, 4 models put Minneapolis's Thu Aug 20 high anywhere from 24° to 29°;by the final call, the day before, the field had settled to a median of 29°. The day verified at 27° against the ECMWF IFS analysis, with 1.3 mm of precipitation — drizzle.
AIGFS landed closest, off by 0.1°. GFS ran 4° warm.
What every model said, at every lead
Daily-high calls for Thu Aug 20 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 Minneapolis scoreboard shows them, labelled.
| Lead | AIFS | AIGFS | ECMWF | GEM | GFS | ICON | UKMO | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15d · 2026-08-05 | — | 29° | — | — | 39° | — | — | 29–39° |
| 14d · 2026-08-06 | 26° | 24° | 29° | — | 27° | — | — | 24–29° |
| 13d · 2026-08-07 | 24° | 24° | 26° | — | 26° | — | — | 24–26° |
| 12d · 2026-08-08 | 21° | 25° | 28° | — | 27° | — | — | 21–28° |
| 11d · 2026-08-09 | 27° | 30° | 27° | — | 30° | — | — | 27–30° |
| 10d · 2026-08-10 | 30° | 26° | 23° | — | 24° | — | — | 23–30° |
| 9d · 2026-08-11 | 26° | 31° | 26° | 26° | 36° | — | — | 26–36° |
| 8d · 2026-08-12 | 22° | 27° | 24° | 24° | 22° | — | — | 22–27° |
| 7d · 2026-08-13 | 23° | 24° | 28° | 22° | 24° | — | — | 22–28° |
| 6d · 2026-08-14 | 25° | 21° | 22° | 23° | 25° | 27° | — | 21–27° |
| 5d · 2026-08-15 | 30° | 25° | 28° | 25° | 28° | 28° | 29° | 25–30° |
| 4d · 2026-08-16 | 29° | 28° | 29° | 25° | 31° | 27° | 30° | 25–31° |
| 3d · 2026-08-17 | 29° | 28° | 28° | 28° | 31° | 28° | 30° | 28–31° |
| 2d · 2026-08-18 | 26° | 27° | 29° | 28° | 30° | 29° | 27° | 26–30° |
| 1d · 2026-08-19 | 26° | 27° | 28° | 29° | 31° | 29° | 29° | 26–31° |
| actual | 27° |
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 Minneapolis — 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.