The Spread

Was the forecast right for Washington on Thu Aug 13?

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 Thu Aug 13 high anywhere from 84° to 100°; by the final call the field had settled to a median of 92°. ERA5 says the day verified at 89° with 0.07 in of precipitation — drizzle.

UKMO landed closest, off by 0.1°. GEM ran 6° hot.

13 days out the models said 84–100; it hit 89. UKMO led (off 0.1°F); GEM ran 6°F hot.
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 Thu Aug 13 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 AIFSAIGFSECMWFGEMGFSICONUKMO Range
15d · 2026-07-29 86° 91° 86–91°
14d · 2026-07-30 94° 89° 72° 72–94°
13d · 2026-07-31 96° 84° 88° 100° 84–100°
12d · 2026-08-01 85° 80° 95° 90° 80–95°
11d · 2026-08-02 77° 83° 97° 95° 77–97°
10d · 2026-08-03 87° 85° 96° 85° 85–96°
9d · 2026-08-04 89° 90° 79° 83° 79–90°
8d · 2026-08-05 91° 85° 90° 84° 79° 79–91°
7d · 2026-08-06 88° 90° 90° 92° 92° 88–92°
6d · 2026-08-07 88° 90° 84° 79° 87° 91° 79–91°
5d · 2026-08-08 90° 90° 92° 88° 93° 91° 96° 88–96°
4d · 2026-08-09 90° 91° 89° 87° 92° 92° 92° 87–92°
3d · 2026-08-10 90° 90° 90° 83° 93° 88° 91° 83–93°
2d · 2026-08-11 91° 89° 90° 87° 90° 92° 92° 87–92°
1d · 2026-08-12 92° 89° 90° 94° 92° 90° 92° 89–94°
0d · 2026-08-13 92° 91° 92° 95° 93° 89° 89° 89–95°
actual 89°

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.