The Spread

Which weather model is most accurate in New Orleans?

New Orleans, Louisiana · daily high temperature · trailing 30 days · refreshed at most every 6 hours

Every day, The Spread archives what each major weather model predicted for New Orleans at 1-, 3-, and 7-day leads, then scores those forecasts against ERA5 reanalysis once the day has happened. This page covers the trailing 30 days (2026-07-06 to 2026-08-05), for daily high temperature.

One day out, NOAA AIGFS (AI) has been most accurate (typical miss 1.49°F); at three days, NOAA AIGFS (AI) (1.84°F); at seven days, GEM (Canada) (2.08°F).

The largest standing bias belongs to NOAA GFS, which has run warm by about 5.08°F at 3-day lead over this window.

The Spread's own bias-corrected blend scored a 1.39°F typical miss at one day. Its corrections come from the same window it is scored on (in-sample), so read it as a ceiling, not a promise.

The scoreboard

Typical miss (MAE) with the signed bias in parentheses — positive bias means the model ran warm. Days = scored days behind the 1-day number.

Model 1-day 3-day 7-day Days
NOAA AIGFS (AI) 1.5° (+0.2°) 1.8° (-0.7°) 3.3° (-1.9°) 30
ECMWF IFS 1.9° (-1.5°) 2.3° (-1.3°) 3.5° (-1.9°) 30
DWD ICON 1.9° (+0.7°) 2.6° (+1.6°) 30
ECMWF AIFS (AI) 2.2° (-1.9°) 2.4° (-1.9°) 3.3° (-2.7°) 30
UKMO (UK) 2.3° (+1.7°) 3.2° (+1.9°) 30
GEM (Canada) 2.6° (+2.1°) 2.1° (+0.1°) 2.1° (-0.2°) 30
NOAA GFS 3.1° (+1.9°) 5.4° (+5.1°) 6.0° (+5.6°) 30
NBM (US blend) 1.5° (+0.2°) 2.0° (+0.0°) 2.4° (+0.5°) 30
Blended (bias-corrected) 1.4° (-0.0°) 1.6° (+0.0°) 2.2° (+0.0°) 30

Method, honestly

Forecasts come from each model's actual archived runs via Open-Meteo's Previous Runs API — what the model said at the time, not a reconstruction. Truth is ERA5 reanalysis daily highs. Rankings cover the models themselves; the two consensus products at the bottom of the table — NBM, which is itself a blend of models, and The Spread's own bias-corrected blend — are shown for comparison, never ranked or named "most accurate" here. The blend's corrections come from the same trailing window it is scored on (in-sample), so treat its score as a ceiling. A rolling 30-day window means these numbers move — that is the point.

Receipts — was the forecast right?

One page per settled date: what every model said as the day approached, what happened, and who was closest.

  • Sun Aug 2 6 days out the models said 83–92; it hit 87. GEM led (off 0.0°); ICON ran 3° hot.
  • Sat Aug 1 5 days out the models said 86–96; it hit 96. UKMO led (off 0.7°); AIFS ran 3° cold.
  • Fri Jul 31 4 days out the models said 86–96; it hit 95. GEM led (off 0.3°); ICON ran 4° cold.
  • Thu Jul 30 3 days out the models said 89–100; it hit 95. AIGFS led (off 0.3°); AIFS ran 4° cold.

Other cities

Atlanta, Georgia Boston, Massachusetts Buffalo, New York Charlotte, North Carolina Chicago, Illinois Dallas, Texas Denver, Colorado Houston, Texas Los Angeles, California Miami, Florida Minneapolis, Minnesota New York, New York Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Orlando, Florida Phoenix, Arizona Salt Lake City, Utah San Francisco, California Seattle, Washington Washington, District of Columbia

The Spread — the forecast spread — is in closed beta. These verification pages are public while the rest is gated.