Was the forecast right for Washington on Wed Aug 12?
Washington, District of Columbia · daily high temperature in °F · forecasts from each model's archived runs, verified against ERA5
13 days out, 4 models put Washington's Wed Aug 12 high anywhere from 78° to 91°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 89°. ERA5 says the day verified at 87° with 0.06 in of precipitation — drizzle.
ICON landed closest, off by 0.6°. GEM ran 6° hot.
What every model said, at every lead
Daily-high calls for Wed Aug 12 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 Washington scoreboard shows them, labelled.
| Lead | AIFS | AIGFS | ECMWF | GEM | GFS | ICON | UKMO | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15d · 2026-07-28 | — | 88° | — | — | 92° | — | — | 88–92° |
| 14d · 2026-07-29 | 85° | 87° | — | — | 92° | — | — | 85–92° |
| 13d · 2026-07-30 | 91° | 78° | 86° | — | 84° | — | — | 78–91° |
| 12d · 2026-07-31 | 94° | 89° | 92° | — | 94° | — | — | 89–94° |
| 11d · 2026-08-01 | 86° | 81° | 89° | — | 92° | — | — | 81–92° |
| 10d · 2026-08-02 | 86° | 82° | 94° | — | 89° | — | — | 82–94° |
| 9d · 2026-08-03 | 84° | 86° | 97° | — | 82° | — | — | 82–97° |
| 8d · 2026-08-04 | 85° | 85° | 77° | 85° | 95° | — | — | 77–95° |
| 7d · 2026-08-05 | 88° | 79° | 88° | 79° | 75° | — | — | 75–88° |
| 6d · 2026-08-06 | 86° | 86° | 87° | 91° | 88° | 89° | — | 86–91° |
| 5d · 2026-08-07 | 88° | 87° | 87° | 88° | 86° | 86° | 90° | 86–90° |
| 4d · 2026-08-08 | 85° | 86° | 91° | 81° | 87° | 79° | 86° | 79–91° |
| 3d · 2026-08-09 | 87° | 85° | 87° | 81° | 89° | 87° | 85° | 81–89° |
| 2d · 2026-08-10 | 87° | 84° | 86° | 82° | 89° | 82° | 80° | 80–89° |
| 1d · 2026-08-11 | 88° | 86° | 87° | 92° | 88° | 87° | 88° | 86–92° |
| 0d · 2026-08-12 | 89° | 88° | 90° | 94° | 91° | 88° | 89° | 88–94° |
| actual | 87° |
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 Washington — 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 ERA5 reanalysis (temperature_2m_max). Archive depth varies by city; receipts exist only for dates the archive watched arrive.