The Spread

Was the forecast right for Phoenix on Sat Aug 15?

Phoenix, Arizona · daily high temperature in °C · forecasts from each model's archived runs, verified against the ECMWF IFS analysis

13 days out, 4 models put Phoenix's Sat Aug 15 high anywhere from 31° to 42°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 40°. The ECMWF IFS analysis says the day verified at 42° — cloudy.

GFS landed closest, off by 0.3°. GEM ran 2° cold.

13 days out the models said 31–42; it hit 42. GFS led (off 0.3°C); GEM ran 2°C 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 Sat Aug 15 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 Phoenix scoreboard shows them, labelled.

Lead AIFSAIGFSECMWFGEMGFSICONUKMO Range
15d · 2026-07-31 38° 41° 38–41°
14d · 2026-08-01 34° 38° 40° 34–40°
13d · 2026-08-02 31° 36° 42° 42° 31–42°
12d · 2026-08-03 31° 36° 41° 44° 31–44°
11d · 2026-08-04 40° 41° 38° 38° 38–41°
10d · 2026-08-05 38° 39° 37° 39° 37–39°
9d · 2026-08-06 39° 38° 41° 40° 38–41°
8d · 2026-08-07 39° 40° 42° 41° 42° 39–42°
7d · 2026-08-08 41° 40° 42° 41° 41° 40–42°
6d · 2026-08-09 41° 40° 42° 40° 39° 40° 39–42°
5d · 2026-08-10 39° 39° 41° 39° 39° 40° 41° 39–41°
4d · 2026-08-11 39° 39° 39° 39° 40° 37° 39° 37–40°
3d · 2026-08-12 39° 39° 40° 40° 40° 40° 39° 39–40°
2d · 2026-08-13 40° 40° 40° 39° 40° 41° 38° 38–41°
1d · 2026-08-14 41° 39° 41° 40° 41° 40° 39° 39–41°
0d · 2026-08-15 41° 40° 40° 40° 42° 41° 40° 40–42°
actual 42°

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 Phoenix — 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.