The Spread

Was the forecast right for Houston on Sat Aug 15?

Houston, Texas · daily high temperature in °F · forecasts from each model's archived runs, verified against the ECMWF IFS analysis

13 days out, 4 models put Houston's Sat Aug 15 high anywhere from 96° to 100°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 98°. The ECMWF IFS analysis says the day verified at 96° with 0.05 in of precipitation — thunderstorms.

AIFS landed closest, off by 0.3°. GEM ran 3° hot.

13 days out the models said 96–100; it hit 96. AIFS led (off 0.3°F); GEM ran 3°F hot.
The shareable card for this receipt — what this page looks like pasted into a thread.

What every model said, at every lead

Daily-high calls for Sat Aug 15 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 Houston scoreboard shows them, labelled.

Lead AIFSAIGFSECMWFGEMGFSICONUKMO Range
15d · 2026-07-31 99° 101° 99–101°
14d · 2026-08-01 95° 97° 100° 95–100°
13d · 2026-08-02 96° 98° 99° 100° 96–100°
12d · 2026-08-03 96° 98° 97° 103° 96–103°
11d · 2026-08-04 96° 98° 96° 102° 96–102°
10d · 2026-08-05 96° 98° 93° 104° 93–104°
9d · 2026-08-06 94° 98° 94° 100° 94–100°
8d · 2026-08-07 96° 99° 95° 97° 102° 95–102°
7d · 2026-08-08 96° 98° 95° 97° 102° 95–102°
6d · 2026-08-09 96° 96° 94° 98° 101° 95° 94–101°
5d · 2026-08-10 96° 97° 95° 99° 103° 100° 98° 95–103°
4d · 2026-08-11 95° 98° 93° 97° 103° 99° 98° 93–103°
3d · 2026-08-12 95° 98° 94° 98° 103° 99° 97° 94–103°
2d · 2026-08-13 95° 97° 95° 99° 101° 99° 97° 95–101°
1d · 2026-08-14 96° 98° 95° 98° 96° 98° 95° 95–98°
0d · 2026-08-15 96° 98° 95° 99° 98° 99° 98° 95–99°
actual 96°

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 Houston — 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). Archive depth varies by city; receipts exist only for dates the archive watched arrive.