The Spread

Was the forecast right for Houston on Tue Aug 18?

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 Tue Aug 18 high anywhere from 94° to 101°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 97°. The day verified at 97° against the ECMWF IFS analysis, with 0.2 in of precipitation — thunderstorms.

GFS landed closest, off by 0.0°. GEM ran 2° hot.

13 days out the models said 94–101; it hit 97. GFS led (off 0.0°F); GEM ran 2°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 Tue Aug 18 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 · 2026-08-03 94° 104° 94–104°
14d · 2026-08-04 96° 98° 104° 96–104°
13d · 2026-08-05 96° 98° 94° 101° 94–101°
12d · 2026-08-06 94° 100° 96° 99° 94–100°
11d · 2026-08-07 96° 99° 96° 101° 96–101°
10d · 2026-08-08 97° 97° 97° 104° 97–104°
9d · 2026-08-09 96° 97° 96° 104° 96–104°
8d · 2026-08-10 96° 99° 98° 100° 100° 96–100°
7d · 2026-08-11 95° 99° 98° 96° 104° 95–104°
6d · 2026-08-12 96° 98° 96° 100° 104° 101° 96–104°
5d · 2026-08-13 96° 98° 97° 100° 102° 95° 97° 95–102°
4d · 2026-08-14 95° 98° 99° 99° 103° 98° 98° 95–103°
3d · 2026-08-15 96° 98° 98° 98° 104° 99° 98° 96–104°
2d · 2026-08-16 95° 98° 96° 100° 103° 97° 98° 95–103°
1d · 2026-08-17 96° 98° 97° 100° 97° 97° 99° 96–100°
0d · 2026-08-18 95° 98° 97° 100° 97° 97° 98° 95–100°
actual 97°

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.