The Spread

Which weather model is most accurate in New York?

Outlook Model accuracy

New York, New York · daily high temperature in °F · trailing 30 days · refreshed at most every 6 hours

Every day, The Spread archives what each major weather model predicted for New York at 1-, 3-, and 7-day leads, then scores those forecasts against the NYC observations once the day has happened. This page covers the trailing 30 days (2026-08-04 to 2026-09-02), for daily high temperature.

One day out, ECMWF AIFS (AI) has been most accurate (typical miss 1.37°F); at three days, ECMWF AIFS (AI) (2.01°F); at seven days, ECMWF AIFS (AI) (2.78°F).

The largest standing bias belongs to NOAA GFS, which has run warm by about 5.76°F at 1-day lead over this window.

The Spread's own bias-corrected blend scored a 1.51°F typical miss at one day. Its corrections come from the same window it is scored on (in-sample), so read it as a ceiling, not a promise.

The scoreboard

Typical miss (MAE) in °F with the signed bias in parentheses — positive bias means the model ran warm. Days = scored days behind the 1-day number.

Model 1-day 3-day 7-day Days
ECMWF AIFS (AI) 1.4° (-0.3°) 2.0° (-0.3°) 2.8° (+0.9°) 30
DWD ICON 2.1° (+1.2°) 2.8° (+1.3°) 30
ECMWF IFS 2.3° (+0.9°) 3.0° (+0.8°) 4.5° (+0.7°) 30
NOAA AIGFS (AI) 2.5° (+1.1°) 2.9° (+0.3°) 4.4° (+0.8°) 30
UKMO (UK) 2.8° (+2.7°) 3.5° (+3.4°) 30
GEM (Canada) 4.2° (+4.2°) 2.7° (+0.1°) 3.8° (+0.8°) 30
NOAA GFS 5.8° (+5.8°) 5.2° (+4.6°) 6.8° (+6.8°) 30
NBM (US blend) 2.1° (+0.9°) 2.1° (+1.1°) 2.5° (+0.6°) 30
Blended (bias-corrected) 1.5° (-0.0°) 2.1° (-0.0°) 2.8° (+0.0°) 30

Method, honestly

The Spread's New York point is the New York Central Park station (NYC), 5.2 mi from downtown, used for both forecasts and verifications. Forecasts come from each model's actual archived runs via Open-Meteo's Previous Runs API — what the model said at the time, not a reconstruction. Truth is NYC observations — the station's own daily highs, a thermometer rather than a grid, and no correction applies: the thermometer is the truth outright. Rankings cover the models themselves; the two consensus products at the bottom of the table — NBM, which is itself a blend of models, and The Spread's own bias-corrected blend — are shown for comparison, never ranked or named "most accurate" here. The blend's corrections come from the same trailing window it is scored on (in-sample), so treat its score as a ceiling. A rolling 30-day window means these numbers move — that is the point.

Receipts — was the forecast right?

One page per settled date: what every model said as the day approached, what happened, and who was closest.

  • Tue Sep 1 11 days out the models said 79–98; it hit 82. UKMO led (off 0.3°F); GFS ran 6°F hot.
  • Mon Aug 31 10 days out the models said 77–87; it hit 78. AIFS led (off 1.0°F); AIGFS ran 5°F cold.
  • Sun Aug 30 9 days out the models said 74–85; it hit 79. ICON led (off 1.5°F); GEM ran 7°F hot.
  • Sat Aug 29 8 days out the models said 74–84; it hit 76. AIFS led (off 1.2°F); GFS ran 7°F hot.
  • Fri Aug 28 7 days out the models said 75–82; it hit 84. AIGFS led (off 0.7°F); GFS ran 6°F hot.
  • Thu Aug 27 6 days out the models said 76–82; it hit 77. ECMWF led (off 2.2°F); GFS ran 8°F hot.
  • Wed Aug 26 5 days out the models said 80–85; it hit 81. AIGFS led (off 0.4°F); GFS ran 6°F hot.
  • Tue Aug 25 4 days out the models said 77–81; it hit 78. AIGFS led (off 0.0°F); GEM ran 4°F hot.
  • Mon Aug 24 3 days out the models said 76–84; it hit 79. AIFS led (off 0.4°F); GFS ran 4°F hot.
  • Tue Aug 18 13 days out the models said 80–86; it hit 84. ICON led (off 0.3°F); GEM ran 4°F hot.
  • Mon Aug 17 13 days out the models said 67–88; it hit 80. ICON led (off 0.1°F); GFS ran 6°F hot.
  • Sun Aug 16 13 days out the models said 70–88; it hit 79. ICON led (off 0.4°F); GFS ran 4°F hot.
  • Sat Aug 15 13 days out the models said 81–83; it hit 82. AIGFS led (off 0.0°F); GFS ran 4°F hot.
  • Fri Aug 14 13 days out the models said 77–81; it hit 85. UKMO led (off 0.6°F); GFS ran 4°F hot.
  • Thu Aug 13 13 days out the models said 81–90; it hit 85. ECMWF led (off 0.0°F); AIGFS ran 3°F hot.
  • Wed Aug 12 13 days out the models said 70–85; it hit 89. GFS led (off 0.1°F); GEM ran 2°F cold.
  • Tue Aug 11 13 days out the models said 76–88; it hit 88. ICON led (off 0.3°F); AIFS ran 2°F cold.
  • Mon Aug 10 13 days out the models said 84–96; it hit 91. AIGFS led (off 0.0°F); ECMWF ran 3°F hot.
  • Sun Aug 9 13 days out the models said 77–92; it hit 92. ECMWF led (off 0.5°F).
  • Sat Aug 8 12 days out the models said 81–90; it hit 88. ICON led (off 0.5°F); AIGFS ran 4°F hot.
  • Fri Aug 7 11 days out the models said 84–88; it hit 95. GFS led (off 1.3°F); ICON ran 8°F cold.
  • Thu Aug 6 10 days out the models said 80–89; it hit 91. ECMWF led (off 0.8°F); GFS ran 3°F cold.
  • Wed Aug 5 9 days out the models said 78–90; it hit 83. ICON led (off 0.1°F); AIFS ran 2°F cold.
  • Tue Aug 4 8 days out the models said 82–84; it hit 84. GEM led (off 0.3°F); GFS ran 5°F cold.
  • Mon Aug 3 7 days out the models said 77–86; it hit 83. ECMWF led (off 0.5°F); GEM ran 5°F cold.
  • Sun Aug 2 6 days out the models said 76–82; it hit 82. AIGFS led (off 0.1°F); ICON ran 2°F cold.
  • Sat Aug 1 5 days out the models said 79–87; it hit 85. AIFS led (off 0.0°F); ICON ran 3°F cold.
  • Fri Jul 31 4 days out the models said 79–87; it hit 84. ICON led (off 0.2°F).
  • Thu Jul 30 3 days out the models said 76–80; it hit 77. AIFS led (off 0.1°F); GEM ran 2°F hot.

Other cities

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The Spread — the forecast spread — is in closed beta. These verification pages are public while the rest is gated.