The Spread

Was the forecast right for Los Angeles on Tue Aug 18?

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 Tue Aug 18 high anywhere from 76° to 90°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 90°. The day verified at 94° against the ECMWF IFS analysis — cloudy.

GFS landed closest, off by 1.3°. AIGFS ran 13° cold.

13 days out the models said 76–90; it hit 94. GFS led (off 1.3°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 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 Los Angeles scoreboard shows them, labelled.

Lead AIFSAIGFSECMWFGEMGFSICONUKMO Range
15d · 2026-08-03 83° 96° 83–96°
14d · 2026-08-04 82° 74° 88° 74–88°
13d · 2026-08-05 78° 76° 85° 90° 76–90°
12d · 2026-08-06 82° 79° 82° 86° 79–86°
11d · 2026-08-07 81° 80° 89° 90° 80–90°
10d · 2026-08-08 91° 78° 86° 90° 78–91°
9d · 2026-08-09 79° 75° 82° 89° 75–89°
8d · 2026-08-10 82° 83° 91° 89° 88° 82–91°
7d · 2026-08-11 88° 83° 82° 87° 91° 82–91°
6d · 2026-08-12 89° 84° 83° 90° 92° 92° 83–92°
5d · 2026-08-13 90° 81° 90° 90° 94° 86° 91° 81–94°
4d · 2026-08-14 88° 81° 89° 89° 95° 87° 88° 81–95°
3d · 2026-08-15 88° 83° 89° 91° 94° 87° 89° 83–94°
2d · 2026-08-16 86° 81° 89° 90° 94° 88° 87° 81–94°
1d · 2026-08-17 85° 81° 92° 89° 92° 86° 88° 81–92°
0d · 2026-08-18 86° 81° 92° 90° 93° 86° 90° 81–93°
actual 94°

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.