Ray's Weather Report Card: September 2026
Published October 10, 2026
We scored 30 days of Boone forecasts in September 2026. Open-Meteo averaged 92.8 and Ray’s Weather 76.8, a 16.0-point gap. Open-Meteo outscored Ray’s on every one of the 30 days, and it never graded below Right.
Key takeaways
- Ray’s Weather averaged 76.8 in September 2026, a Right month on average, but 16.0 points behind free Open-Meteo’s 92.8
- Ray’s went 17-12-1; Open-Meteo went 30-0-0 and its worst day was an 82.7 on September 19
- Open-Meteo beat Ray’s on 30 of 30 days, and Ray’s best two days (95.2 and 91.6) still trailed Open-Meteo’s grades by 0.8 and 4.8 points
- Ray’s one Wrong day was September 5, at 55.0, after a forecast high of 86°F in a 79.1°F afternoon
- Across July, August, and September combined, Ray’s averaged 76.5 against Open-Meteo’s 91.2
How did Ray’s Weather score in September 2026?
Ray’s Weather averaged 76.8 across 30 scored days in September 2026, which is Right territory by 1.8 points. He posted 17 Right days, 12 Meh days, and 1 Wrong day. Open-Meteo averaged 92.8 and never left Right territory.
We capture each source’s forecast around midday and grade it the next day against verified actuals from the Open-Meteo historical archive. The monthly score is the mean of the daily 0 to 100 grades. September had 30 clean days for every source.
September 2026 at a glance
September in Boone cooled off as it went, with the average high dropping from 77.0°F in the first half to 71.3°F in the second. Measurable rain fell on 19 of 30 days, and the month’s average high was 74.1°F against an average low of 58.6°F.
Which Boone forecast was most accurate in September 2026?
MET Norway was the most accurate Boone forecast in September at 96.4, ahead of Google at 93.6 and Open-Meteo at 92.8. Ray’s Weather was ninth of nine at 76.8, and the next-lowest source, WeatherAPI, finished 8.9 points above him.
How did each forecaster rank in September?
| Source | September avg | R-M-W |
|---|---|---|
| MET Norway | 96.4 | 30-0-0 |
| 93.6 | 30-0-0 | |
| Open-Meteo (free) | 92.8 | 30-0-0 |
| Visual Crossing | 91.9 | 30-0-0 |
| Tomorrow.io | 90.2 | 29-1-0 |
| OpenWeather | 88.7 | 29-0-1 |
| National Weather Service | 86.4 | 28-2-0 |
| WeatherAPI | 85.7 | 28-1-1 |
| Ray’s Weather (paid) | 76.8 | 17-12-1 |
Scores are the mean of each day’s 0 to 100 grade. R-M-W is the count of days graded Right, Meh, and Wrong.
What does the R-M-W column mean?
Right is 75 or above, Meh is 60 to 74, and Wrong is anything under 60. Ray’s 17-12-1 splits his month almost evenly between solid and middling, with one outright miss. OpenWeather and WeatherAPI each took a Wrong day too. OpenWeather’s, a 48.8 on September 7, was the lowest grade any source posted in September.
What were Ray’s best and worst days in September?
Ray’s Weather ranged from 55.0 on September 5 to 95.2 on September 16, a 40.2-point swing. Those two dates show the pattern of the whole season, because the same forecaster can be nearly perfect one week and well off the next.
What was Ray’s worst September day?
September 5 was Ray’s worst at 55.0. He forecast a high of 86°F with late-day thunderstorms. Boone reached 79.1°F, 6.9 degrees under, and the night held at 67.5°F against his 63°F low. That cost him 17.7 points on the high and 10.5 on the low. Open-Meteo scored 82.8.
Two Meh days ran close behind. September 7 came in at 60.3, with a forecast low of 54°F against an actual 60.8°F, and September 24 at 61.2, with a 42°F low forecast and a 48.7°F reading. In both cases the daytime call was fine and the overnight call carried the miss.
What was Ray’s best September day?
September 16 was Ray’s best at 95.2. He forecast 81°F and 60°F against actuals of 80.9°F and 61.0°F, and a wind range of 5 to 10 mph against 8.4. A “no rain” call on a day with 0.06 inches of drizzle cost him 4 precipitation points. Open-Meteo scored 96.0 that day. His other 90-plus day, September 29 at 91.6, was came with a 74°F high call against 71.0°F, a 50°F low against 48.4°F, and a dry forecast on a dry day.
Why did the free apps beat the paid one again?
September’s 16.0-point gap came from all four fields. Wind cost Ray’s the most, 4.9 points a day (14.9 of 20 against Open-Meteo’s 19.8), followed by precipitation at 4.0 (12.9 against 16.9), the overnight low at 3.9 (25.3 of 30 against 29.2), and the high at 3.2 (23.8 against 27.0). The low is the field that moved most from earlier months. His average miss on it was 2.4°F in September, against 1.7°F in July and 1.3°F in August, while Open-Meteo held at 1.0°F.
Where the points go
Each forecast is graded out of 100, split across four fields:
- High temp: 30
- Low temp: 30
- Wind: 20
- Precip: 20
What does a 16-point monthly gap actually mean?
A 16.0-point gap is more than a full letter grade. Open-Meteo turned in an A- and Ray’s a C+. The gap has risen each month since July (13.2, then 14.7, then 16.0), though it remains below June’s 21.2. Week by week, Open-Meteo led in every block of the month, by as much as 19.7 points (September 1 to 7 and 22 to 28) and as little as 6.6 (September 29 and 30).
The summer as a whole reads cleanly. Across the 91 days of July, August, and September, Ray’s averaged 76.5 and Open-Meteo 91.2, a 14.7-point gap, and Ray’s came out ahead on 4 of those days. Since Ray’s first scored day on March 5, across 208 days, Open-Meteo averages 90.4 and Ray’s 71.2, a 19.2-point difference on the same days.
All of this measures one-day-out forecasts. It doesn’t speak to seven- or ten-day lead time, so this card can’t say how Ray’s does at that range. The case for why we track any of it is in is Ray’s Weather accurate?, and the month before this one is the August 2026 report card.
See the live scoreboard
A monthly card is a slice of a record that updates every day. Open the live scoreboard, updated daily to see every source graded as of today, or check today’s Dave’s Sweater Index for the sweater verdict. The data is public, CSV and JSON, scored the same way every day, and the full series sits on the report card page.
Frequently asked questions
Was Ray’s Weather accurate in September 2026?
Ray’s Weather was moderately accurate in September 2026, averaging 76.8 out of 100 across 30 scored days. He posted 17 Right days, 12 Meh days, and 1 Wrong day. Open-Meteo scored 92.8 and graded Right every day.
What was the most accurate Boone forecast in September 2026?
Of the nine forecasters we track in Boone, MET Norway had the highest September average at 96.4 out of 100, followed by Google at 93.6 and Open-Meteo at 92.8. Ray’s Weather ranked ninth at 76.8.
How does Dave’s Sweater score a forecast?
Each forecast is graded out of 100 points: high temp 30, low temp 30, wind 20, and precipitation 20. We capture the forecast around midday and score it the next day against verified actuals from the Open-Meteo archive. The scoring is snow-aware and documented on the methodology page.
Why did Ray’s Weather score lower than the free apps?
In September Ray’s trailed on all four fields. Wind was the largest gap at 4.9 points a day, then precipitation at 4.0, where he publishes no numeric total, the overnight low at 3.9, and the daily high at 3.2.
What was Ray’s worst forecast day in September 2026?
Ray’s worst forecast day in September 2026 was September 5, scoring 55.0 out of 100. He forecast an 86°F high and Boone reached 79.1°F. His best day was September 16 at 95.2, which still finished 0.8 points behind Open-Meteo.
Is Open-Meteo more accurate than Ray’s Weather?
In September 2026, yes. Open-Meteo averaged 92.8 versus Ray’s 76.8 and scored higher on all 30 days. Across the 208 days Ray’s has been scored since March 5, it averages 90.4 against his 71.2. Open-Meteo is free; Ray’s extended forecasts are paid.
How often is a new report card published?
A new report card covers each calendar month, scoring every Boone forecaster against verified actuals. Between editions the scoreboard updates daily, so the current numbers are always a click away.
Want today’s numbers instead of last month’s? Open the live scoreboard, updated daily or read how the 100-point scoring works to check our math.