It for sure isn't better. Doesn't dig nearly as much.

If anything on the 500mb level it looks better

Correct. And the AI models, if I understand them correctly, are not physics-based models. They are predictions based models and are learning over time based on historical similarities. Extrapolated out 360 , you can see how they may get overambitious. However, I have noticed that midterm they seem to be perform well. For example, this weekend's system. It was the first to be well South of all the other global models.

We’ve had a nice break from the rain here. Still managed 1.53 in the last 24 hours. It’s starting to mist again now.