ECMWF vs ICON
Over Europe in the first 2–3 days, DWD's ICON (with its nested ICON-EU 7 km and ICON-D2 2 km grids) often beats ECMWF's 9 km grid on local detail such as thunderstorms, fog and mountain rain. From day 3 onward ECMWF is generally the more skilful model. ICON's global run stops around day 7.5, so for the week ahead ECMWF is the reference and ICON is the short-range specialist.
| ECMWF IFS | DWD ICON | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts | Deutscher Wetterdienst (German Weather Service) |
| Origin | Europe | Germany |
| Resolution | 9 km (IFS HRES) | 13 km global, 7 km Europe (ICON-EU), 2 km Central Europe (ICON-D2) |
| Model runs | 4 per day (00, 06, 12, 18 UTC) | 4 per day global; hourly for ICON-D2 |
| Forecast range | up to 15 days | up to 7 days |
| Type | Physics-based NWP | Physics-based NWP |
| Also called | European model, Euro, IFS, ECMWF HRES | German model, ICON-EU, ICON-D2 |
| Strengths | Large-scale pattern and storm track 3–10 days out, pressure systems, medium-range temperature. | Short-range detail over Europe, thunderstorms (ICON-D2), terrain-driven precipitation. |
| Weaknesses | A 9 km grid still smooths narrow valleys and coastlines; convective showers are parameterised, not resolved. | Global range ends around day 7; outside Europe it falls back to the 13 km global grid. |
Key differences
- Short range over Europe: ICON-D2 at 2 km resolves convection explicitly, a big advantage for summer storms.
- Medium range: ECMWF wins on large-scale pattern and timing of fronts.
- Coverage: ICON-EU covers Europe; outside it you get ICON Global at 13 km.
- Updates: ICON-D2 runs every 3 hours, ECMWF four times a day.
Questions
Is ECMWF or ICON more accurate?
Over Europe in the first 2–3 days, DWD's ICON (with its nested ICON-EU 7 km and ICON-D2 2 km grids) often beats ECMWF's 9 km grid on local detail such as thunderstorms, fog and mountain rain. From day 3 onward ECMWF is generally the more skilful model. ICON's global run stops around day 7.5, so for the week ahead ECMWF is the reference and ICON is the short-range specialist.
Which is the European model and which is the American model?
The "European model" is ECMWF (IFS, and its AI sibling AIFS). The "American model" is NOAA's GFS. The German model is ICON, the Canadian model GEM, the UK model UKMO and the French models ARPEGE/AROME.
Where can I see ECMWF and ICON side by side?
On every MeteoStack city page: the stack shows ECMWF, ICON and up to ten other models hour by hour, with their median consensus, spread and rain odds. It is free and works for any place on Earth.
More comparisons
ECMWF vs GFS · ECMWF vs ICON · GFS vs ICON · ECMWF vs AIFS · ECMWF vs UKMO · GFS vs GEM · ECMWF vs GEM · ICON vs ARPEGE · GFS vs AIFS · UKMO vs GFS · ECMWF vs JMA · ICON vs UKMO · ECMWF vs ARPEGE · GFS vs JMA