The Spread

Was the forecast right for Los Angeles on Sun Aug 16?

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

13 days out, 4 models put Los Angeles's Sun Aug 16 high anywhere from 77° to 90°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 84°. The ECMWF IFS analysis says the day verified at 89° — partly cloudy.

GFS landed closest, off by 3.6°. AIGFS ran 13° cold.

13 days out the models said 77–90; it hit 89. GFS led (off 3.6°F); AIGFS ran 13°F cold.
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 Sun Aug 16 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 Los Angeles scoreboard shows them, labelled.

Lead AIFSAIGFSECMWFGEMGFSICONUKMO Range
15d · 2026-08-01 78° 84° 78–84°
14d · 2026-08-02 83° 78° 87° 78–87°
13d · 2026-08-03 77° 79° 80° 90° 77–90°
12d · 2026-08-04 81° 79° 84° 92° 79–92°
11d · 2026-08-05 79° 77° 84° 87° 77–87°
10d · 2026-08-06 83° 76° 80° 88° 76–88°
9d · 2026-08-07 83° 82° 91° 92° 82–92°
8d · 2026-08-08 86° 76° 85° 86° 88° 76–88°
7d · 2026-08-09 86° 80° 84° 84° 84° 80–86°
6d · 2026-08-10 83° 82° 84° 83° 85° 83° 82–85°
5d · 2026-08-11 85° 80° 87° 86° 86° 83° 88° 80–88°
4d · 2026-08-12 87° 78° 86° 88° 87° 82° 84° 78–88°
3d · 2026-08-13 86° 78° 87° 90° 87° 82° 82° 78–90°
2d · 2026-08-14 85° 78° 84° 85° 86° 82° 82° 78–86°
1d · 2026-08-15 85° 78° 88° 85° 82° 82° 83° 78–88°
0d · 2026-08-16 84° 76° 84° 85° 85° 80° 83° 76–85°
actual 89°

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 Los Angeles — 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.