The Spread

Was the forecast right for Phoenix on Sun Aug 16?

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 Sun Aug 16 high anywhere from 33° to 43°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 42°. The ECMWF IFS analysis says the day verified at 43° with 0.3 mm of precipitation — drizzle.

GFS landed closest, off by 0.3°. UKMO ran 4° cold.

13 days out the models said 33–43; it hit 43. GFS led (off 0.3°C); UKMO ran 4°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 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 Phoenix scoreboard shows them, labelled.

Lead AIFSAIGFSECMWFGEMGFSICONUKMO Range
15d · 2026-08-01 39° 40° 39–40°
14d · 2026-08-02 33° 38° 44° 33–44°
13d · 2026-08-03 33° 37° 42° 43° 33–43°
12d · 2026-08-04 39° 41° 38° 41° 38–41°
11d · 2026-08-05 39° 39° 42° 41° 39–42°
10d · 2026-08-06 42° 38° 42° 42° 38–42°
9d · 2026-08-07 41° 42° 44° 35° 35–44°
8d · 2026-08-08 43° 41° 43° 42° 40° 40–43°
7d · 2026-08-09 43° 41° 43° 42° 41° 41–43°
6d · 2026-08-10 41° 39° 43° 41° 40° 43° 39–43°
5d · 2026-08-11 42° 39° 43° 39° 40° 41° 41° 39–43°
4d · 2026-08-12 42° 40° 41° 41° 41° 42° 41° 40–42°
3d · 2026-08-13 42° 41° 42° 41° 42° 43° 42° 41–43°
2d · 2026-08-14 43° 41° 42° 41° 40° 42° 41° 40–43°
1d · 2026-08-15 43° 41° 43° 40° 43° 42° 41° 40–43°
0d · 2026-08-16 42° 41° 43° 41° 43° 42° 39° 39–43°
actual 43°

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.