So this doesn't need to be hourly. Use the ECMWF IFS 00 and 12 as observations only.

RMSE really favors average models, AI models are bad... but look good in statistics because they are so average. Look at the output of AI models visually on a map and they are just a blurry mess.

In my area AIFS and AIGFS get the top results but the actual best performing model (because I'm a weather nerd) ends up in third place.

There also seems to be some issue with short and long run models in you comparison. I also see a few models on the list that don't cover my area so it looks like you are not querying for just the specific models but the model+ECMWF fill.