The Spread

Was the forecast right for Los Angeles on Thu Aug 20?

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 Thu Aug 20 high anywhere from 78° to 85°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 91°. The day verified at 95° against the ECMWF IFS analysis — cloudy.

GFS landed closest, off by 1.7°. AIGFS ran 15° cold.

13 days out the models said 78–85; it hit 95. GFS led (off 1.7°F); AIGFS ran 15°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 Thu Aug 20 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 · 2026-08-05 74° 85° 74–85°
14d · 2026-08-06 80° 85° 88° 80–88°
13d · 2026-08-07 78° 79° 84° 85° 78–85°
12d · 2026-08-08 89° 78° 82° 93° 78–93°
11d · 2026-08-09 84° 75° 79° 94° 75–94°
10d · 2026-08-10 81° 82° 91° 86° 81–91°
9d · 2026-08-11 86° 83° 78° 86° 78–86°
8d · 2026-08-12 91° 84° 81° 87° 87° 81–91°
7d · 2026-08-13 89° 80° 89° 94° 90° 80–94°
6d · 2026-08-14 90° 79° 86° 94° 95° 89° 79–95°
5d · 2026-08-15 89° 80° 99° 96° 95° 91° 87° 80–99°
4d · 2026-08-16 87° 79° 94° 96° 97° 90° 91° 79–97°
3d · 2026-08-17 87° 79° 96° 94° 95° 88° 93° 79–96°
2d · 2026-08-18 86° 79° 96° 93° 95° 88° 91° 79–96°
1d · 2026-08-19 85° 79° 92° 92° 93° 87° 94° 79–94°
0d · 2026-08-20 85° 80° 92° 91° 93° 85° 93° 80–93°
actual 95°

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.