Sensors — Skywatch· 11 classes across 6 domains
CorridorsThe fast-record instrument: one frozen probability per class per cycle, graded within days from free public instruments — space weather, weather, seismicity, ENSO and Atlantic tropical cyclones. A pre-registered climatology null rides every call (beating it = minimal competence), and where the publisher actually publishes a probability for the SAME event, that official forecast is captured before the outcome too (beating it = real skill against professionals). The engine's models are deliberately simple and fully documented, so a bad score is a finding, not a mystery.
Why this exists — in plain English, and for the kids
Every other ledger here matures in quarters — a claim frozen today gets its verdict after an earnings season. That makes the engine's track record accrue at the speed of corporate filings, which is the single biggest structural limit on proving whether any of this works.
Natural hazards grade in days. Better still, some of them come with something almost no forecasting domain offers: the official forecaster publishes its own probability in advance. So the engine freezes a number, the professionals' number is captured beside it before anyone knows the answer, and the world settles it. That is a real skill test, not a scoreboard.
Which classes have that rival is stated per class below, and honestly: NOAA publishes a rain probability for the exact window graded here, so that column is a genuine contest. One class converts a deterministic official forecast into a probability and says so. The rest — earthquakes, El Niño, tornado reports, tropical storms — have no published rival for that exact event, so they are scored against climatology alone and nothing pretends otherwise.
Every day the kraken writes down guesses about tomorrow: will there be a big solar flare? will it rain? will there be an earthquake somewhere? will a hurricane be spinning in the Atlantic? Then it writes down what the real scientists guessed too — before anybody knows!
The next day the world tells everyone who was right. Most of our other guesses take months to check. These take one sleep. It's the fastest way to find out if the kraken is actually any good at guessing.
The watch, live — every blip is a frozen call marching toward its verdict · 2026-10-08
How to read the scope
- Distance — how soon the world settles it (inner ring = grades next); blips march inward as their verdict approaches. Same-day calls in one domain fan outward a step each so every blip stays readable.
- Size — how boldly the call departs from the pre-registered climatology null. A dot echoes the null; a big blip is a real bet.
- Filled / hollow — engine says more / less likely than normal.
- Dashed ring — an official forecaster published its own number for the same event: a genuine contest.
Click a blip for its receipt — the frozen question, the engine's number, the null it must beat, and the professionals' number where one exists.
the El Niño / La Niña state — a monthly index, so this one is a slow class on a fast instrument
worldwide earthquakes — graded from the USGS catalogue, which nobody forecasts in advance
solar flares and geomagnetic storms — graded from NOAA's GOES and Kp event lists
orbital launches — the scrub contest (will the scheduled launch actually fly?) and the global cadence, graded from Launch Library 2's dated archive
named Atlantic storms — graded from the engine's dated captures of NHC's live feed
rain, temperature and tornado reports — graded from NWS station observations and SPC daily reports
The scoreboard — Brier score, lower is better · 639 graded · 2026-10-08
| Class | Graded | Happened | Engine | Climatology | Official rival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M-class solar flare Will a M-class solar flare occur on the target date (UTC)? | 67 | 11/67 | 0.1443 | 0.1557 | 0.1212 |
| X-class solar flare Will a X-class solar flare occur on the target date (UTC)? | 67 | 0/67 | 0.0004 | 0.0025 | 0.002 |
| G1+ geomagnetic storm Will a G1+ geomagnetic storm occur on the target date (UTC)? | 67 | 7/67 | 0.0969 | 0.1147 | no published rival |
| Measurable rain (NYC) Will measurable precipitation (>=0.01 in) fall at LaGuardia during NWS's own forecast window? | 67 | 15/67 | 0.0953 | 0.1796 | 0.0872 |
| Warmer than normal (NYC) Will Central Park's daily maximum exceed the pinned 1991-2020 normal high for the month? | 67 | 27/67 | 0.1054 | 0.25 | 0.1061 |
| M6.0+ earthquake worldwide Will at least one magnitude 6.0+ earthquake occur worldwide on the target date (UTC)? | 67 | 17/67 | 0.1941 | 0.1986 | no published rival |
| Tornado report (CONUS) Will SPC's daily storm reports contain at least one tornado report for the target date? | 67 | 28/67 | 0.2615 | 0.2615 | no published rival |
| El Nino threshold (Nino-3.4 >= +0.5)monthly Will the CPC Nino-3.4 monthly anomaly for the target month be at or above +0.5 degC? | 0 | — | — | — | no published rival |
| Named Atlantic storm active Will at least one named Atlantic storm (tropical storm or stronger) be active on the target date? | 64 | 11/64 | 0.4623 | 0.4462 | no published rival |
| Orbital launch attempt (worldwide) Will at least one orbital launch attempt leave the pad anywhere in the world on the target date (UTC)? | 67 | 38/67 | 0.1323 | 0.2458 | no published rival |
| Scheduled launch flies on the day Will the earliest launch scheduled in tomorrow's UTC window actually leave the pad within that day (no scrub, no slip)? | 39 | 32/39 | 0.1518 | 0.1959 | 0.1477 |
- M-class solar flare: NOAA SWPC's own published probability for the same day/class
- X-class solar flare: NOAA SWPC's own published probability for the same day/class
- Measurable rain (NYC): NWS probabilityOfPrecipitation for the SAME window (a genuine published probability)
- Warmer than normal (NYC): NWS deterministic forecast high, mapped to a fixed confidence (a CONVERSION, not a published probability)
- Scheduled launch flies on the day: the published launch schedule itself, mapped to a fixed 0.80 confidence (a CONVERSION, not a published probability)
Correction on the record. A grading fault (skywatch-g1-kp-shape-2026-10-01) read NOAA's geomagnetic feed wrongly, so every G1+ call came out “no storm”. All 59 grades were re-derived from the official source and appended as corrections — the frozen calls themselves are untouched. 5 changed to a storm (2026-08-02, 2026-08-08, 2026-08-18, 2026-08-19, 2026-09-08), 54 were confirmed, 0 could not be resolved. The scores above use the corrected grades.
Frozen, awaiting the world
- El Nino threshold (Nino-3.4 >= +0.5) — 2026-08-31sw:3e2febd2b11170d3engine 95%climatology 30%no published rival for this exact eventpersistence 85%Call itWill the CPC Nino-3.4 monthly anomaly for the target month be at or above +0.5 degC?
- El Nino threshold (Nino-3.4 >= +0.5) — 2026-09-30sw:5b74484e30a813ecengine 95%climatology 30%no published rival for this exact eventpersistence 85%Call itWill the CPC Nino-3.4 monthly anomaly for the target month be at or above +0.5 degC?
- X-class solar flare — 2026-10-08sw:895638ee84e3ecb7engine 2%climatology 5%official rival 5%Call itWill a X-class solar flare occur on the target date (UTC)?
- G1+ geomagnetic storm — 2026-10-08sw:dfd9fabb179bf838engine 43%climatology 25%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill a G1+ geomagnetic storm occur on the target date (UTC)?
- Measurable rain (NYC) — 2026-10-08sw:79a5f4b92f084bd8engine 14%climatology 30%official rival 9%Call itWill measurable precipitation (>=0.01 in) fall at LaGuardia during NWS's own forecast window?
- Warmer than normal (NYC) — 2026-10-08sw:f615cf34827f887eengine 95%climatology 50%official rival 85%Call itWill Central Park's daily maximum exceed the pinned 1991-2020 normal high for the month?
- M6.0+ earthquake worldwide — 2026-10-08sw:7bd20f420180b348engine 24%climatology 35%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill at least one magnitude 6.0+ earthquake occur worldwide on the target date (UTC)?
- Tornado report (CONUS) — 2026-10-08sw:597f5792687c9adeengine 45%climatology 45%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill SPC's daily storm reports contain at least one tornado report for the target date?
- Named Atlantic storm active — 2026-10-08sw:ff572d3a8816453bengine 90%climatology 55%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill at least one named Atlantic storm (tropical storm or stronger) be active on the target date?
- Orbital launch attempt (worldwide) — 2026-10-08sw:a76efa47e8c6ead7engine 60%climatology 55%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill at least one orbital launch attempt leave the pad anywhere in the world on the target date (UTC)?
- Scheduled launch flies on the day — 2026-10-08sw:143e28eb03a25ea0engine 72%climatology 60%official rival 80%Call itWill the earliest launch scheduled in tomorrow's UTC window actually leave the pad within that day (no scrub, no slip)?
- M-class solar flare — 2026-10-08sw:4dddd424199e1c10engine 28%climatology 30%official rival 45%Call itWill a M-class solar flare occur on the target date (UTC)?
- X-class solar flare — 2026-10-09sw:c7a65748a7d5bba9engine 2%climatology 5%official rival 5%Call itWill a X-class solar flare occur on the target date (UTC)?
- G1+ geomagnetic storm — 2026-10-09sw:adb163357c914d0dengine 28%climatology 25%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill a G1+ geomagnetic storm occur on the target date (UTC)?
- Measurable rain (NYC) — 2026-10-09sw:e3e219c0fa6109c4engine 8%climatology 30%official rival 0%Call itWill measurable precipitation (>=0.01 in) fall at LaGuardia during NWS's own forecast window?
- Warmer than normal (NYC) — 2026-10-09sw:9c72de9826d085b1engine 95%climatology 50%official rival 85%Call itWill Central Park's daily maximum exceed the pinned 1991-2020 normal high for the month?
- M6.0+ earthquake worldwide — 2026-10-09sw:2453397ca87f1507engine 24%climatology 35%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill at least one magnitude 6.0+ earthquake occur worldwide on the target date (UTC)?
- Tornado report (CONUS) — 2026-10-09sw:23d2c6cc22a3acdaengine 45%climatology 45%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill SPC's daily storm reports contain at least one tornado report for the target date?
- Named Atlantic storm active — 2026-10-09sw:9514468cb2c163e3engine 90%climatology 55%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill at least one named Atlantic storm (tropical storm or stronger) be active on the target date?
- Orbital launch attempt (worldwide) — 2026-10-09sw:552f4f2554482391engine 60%climatology 55%no published rival for this exact eventCall itWill at least one orbital launch attempt leave the pad anywhere in the world on the target date (UTC)?
- Scheduled launch flies on the day — 2026-10-09sw:46445fa841d42910engine 72%climatology 60%official rival 80%Call itWill the earliest launch scheduled in tomorrow's UTC window actually leave the pad within that day (no scrub, no slip)?
Graded — every call, hit or miss
- 2026-10-07M-class solar flaresaid 30%did not happen
- 2026-10-07Scheduled launch flies on the daysaid 72%HAPPENED
- 2026-10-07Orbital launch attempt (worldwide)said 60%HAPPENED
- 2026-10-07Named Atlantic storm activesaid 55%HAPPENED
- 2026-10-07Tornado report (CONUS)said 45%did not happen
- 2026-10-07M6.0+ earthquake worldwidesaid 24%did not happen
- 2026-10-07Warmer than normal (NYC)said 71%did not happen
- 2026-10-07Measurable rain (NYC)said 8%did not happen
- 2026-10-07G1+ geomagnetic stormsaid 43%did not happen
- 2026-10-07X-class solar flaresaid 2%did not happen
- 2026-10-06M-class solar flaresaid 8%HAPPENED
- 2026-10-06Scheduled launch flies on the daysaid 72%did not happen
- 2026-10-06Orbital launch attempt (worldwide)said 60%did not happen
- 2026-10-06Named Atlantic storm activesaid 55%did not happen
- 2026-10-06Tornado report (CONUS)said 45%did not happen
- 2026-10-06M6.0+ earthquake worldwidesaid 24%did not happen
- 2026-10-06Warmer than normal (NYC)said 46%did not happen
- 2026-10-06Measurable rain (NYC)said 8%did not happen
- 2026-10-06G1+ geomagnetic stormsaid 43%did not happen
- 2026-10-06X-class solar flaresaid 2%did not happen
- 2026-10-05M-class solar flaresaid 7%HAPPENED
- 2026-10-05Scheduled launch flies on the daysaid 72%did not happen
- 2026-10-05Orbital launch attempt (worldwide)said 60%did not happen
- 2026-10-05Named Atlantic storm activesaid 55%did not happen
Closed without a grade — 4
- 2026-07-31El Nino threshold (Nino-3.4 >= +0.5)said 95%NEVER OBSERVED— publisher ceased
- 2026-08-03Named Atlantic storm activesaid 70%NEVER OBSERVED— missing daily capture (the engine did not run that day)
- 2026-09-04Named Atlantic storm activesaid 85%NEVER OBSERVED— missing daily capture (the engine did not run that day)
- 2026-09-18Named Atlantic storm activesaid 85%NEVER OBSERVED— missing daily capture (the engine did not run that day)
Calls closed TERMINALLY without a grade because the observation was never captured and cannot be recovered. They are neither hits nor misses, never enter Brier/calibration, and are listed here with the cause so the gap is auditable rather than invisible. The trigger is mechanical (declared snapshot-dependent class + absent capture + the append-only capture stream already past that date) and cannot see which way the call was leaning.
Frozen append-only with content hashes; grades come from the cited public endpoint. Frozen forecasts and their original grades are never edited or re-graded; a grader defect is repaired only by dated, append-only correction records, and the grade shown and scored here is the EFFECTIVE one (original + correction; see `corrections`, and each corrected row keeps its original). A matured call whose source has not published yet stays OPEN rather than being graded from an assumption. Honest zeros until calls mature — the first grade lands the day after the first freeze, which is the entire point of this instrument. Read each class's `officialRival` before comparing columns: only some publishers publish a probability for the same event, one class states plainly that its 'official' number is a CONVERSION of a deterministic forecast, and the rest are scored against climatology alone.