The Spread

Which weather model is most accurate in Atlanta?

Atlanta, Georgia · daily high temperature · trailing 30 days · refreshed at most every 6 hours

Every day, The Spread archives what each major weather model predicted for Atlanta at 1-, 3-, and 7-day leads, then scores those forecasts against ERA5 reanalysis once the day has happened. This page covers the trailing 30 days (2026-07-06 to 2026-08-05), for daily high temperature.

One day out, ECMWF IFS has been most accurate (typical miss 1.59°F); at three days, ECMWF IFS (2.49°F); at seven days, ECMWF IFS (2.72°F).

The largest standing bias belongs to GEM (Canada), which has run cool by about 3.59°F at 3-day lead over this window.

The Spread's own bias-corrected blend scored a 1.14°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) 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 IFS 1.6° (-0.6°) 2.5° (-1.7°) 2.7° (-0.7°) 30
NOAA GFS 1.8° (+0.9°) 4.3° (+3.1°) 6.9° (+6.1°) 30
NOAA AIGFS (AI) 2.1° (-1.6°) 2.9° (-2.6°) 3.8° (-3.1°) 30
DWD ICON 2.2° (-0.2°) 2.7° (+0.5°) 30
UKMO (UK) 2.4° (+1.6°) 2.6° (+1.4°) 30
ECMWF AIFS (AI) 2.6° (-2.5°) 2.7° (-2.6°) 2.7° (-1.7°) 30
GEM (Canada) 3.1° (-2.8°) 3.9° (-3.6°) 3.4° (-2.5°) 30
NBM (US blend) 1.8° (-1.5°) 1.9° (-1.5°) 1.8° (-0.7°) 30
Blended (bias-corrected) 1.1° (+0.0°) 1.4° (-0.0°) 1.8° (+0.0°) 30

Method, honestly

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 ERA5 reanalysis daily highs. 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.

  • Sun Aug 2 6 days out the models said 77–91; it hit 88. GFS led (off 0.5°); ECMWF ran 5° cold.
  • Sat Aug 1 5 days out the models said 78–95; it hit 87. UKMO led (off 0.6°); AIFS ran 6° cold.
  • Fri Jul 31 4 days out the models said 87–92; it hit 90. ECMWF led (off 0.4°); GEM ran 3° cold.
  • Thu Jul 30 3 days out the models said 84–94; it hit 90. ECMWF led (off 0.3°); GEM ran 5° cold.

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