The Spread

Was the forecast right for Phoenix on Sun Aug 16?

Phoenix, Arizona · daily high temperature in °F · 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 91° to 109°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 107°. The ECMWF IFS analysis says the day verified at 109° with 0.01 in of precipitation — drizzle.

GFS landed closest, off by 0.5°. UKMO ran 8° cold.

13 days out the models said 91–109; it hit 109. GFS led (off 0.5°F); UKMO ran 8°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 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 · 2026-08-01 102° 104° 102–104°
14d · 2026-08-02 92° 101° 110° 92–110°
13d · 2026-08-03 91° 99° 107° 109° 91–109°
12d · 2026-08-04 103° 106° 100° 106° 100–106°
11d · 2026-08-05 102° 103° 107° 106° 102–107°
10d · 2026-08-06 107° 100° 107° 108° 100–108°
9d · 2026-08-07 106° 108° 110° 95° 95–110°
8d · 2026-08-08 109° 105° 109° 107° 104° 104–109°
7d · 2026-08-09 110° 106° 110° 107° 105° 105–110°
6d · 2026-08-10 106° 103° 110° 106° 105° 109° 103–110°
5d · 2026-08-11 107° 103° 109° 102° 105° 106° 106° 102–109°
4d · 2026-08-12 108° 104° 106° 105° 106° 108° 106° 104–108°
3d · 2026-08-13 108° 105° 108° 106° 108° 109° 107° 105–109°
2d · 2026-08-14 109° 106° 107° 106° 104° 108° 106° 104–109°
1d · 2026-08-15 109° 106° 109° 104° 109° 107° 106° 104–109°
0d · 2026-08-16 108° 106° 110° 106° 110° 107° 102° 102–110°
actual 109°

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.