Ordering individual Climate Analytics hourly weather files

DesignBuilder can provide individual hourly weather files from Climate Analytics. To order one or more individual weather files, please contact our sales team. The information on this page may be useful to help guide your request. 

Type of weather file

You can select from 4 broad categories of weather files:

• Real year - you can choose the year.
• Typical year - where each month is selected as the most "typical" based on a range of selection criteria.
• Extreme year - the most extreme year is selected based on the chosen selection criterion for design applications.
• Future projection year - a future climate scenario adjustment to the selected historic data to account for future climate change based on a range of scenarios and year bands. Adjustments are made to the hourly data based on projected future climate change data stored as monthly min/max temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed differences. Specific adjustments are made for each location using gridded data calculated by the research organisation and provided by the IPCC.

These options are explained in more detail below along with details on how to specify the project location.

Real year

• Real year – Select any Actual Year of the available weather stations from 1980 until the current year. The data will be from the NASA hourly database for ground surface level, at 2m above ground surface level, or at 10m above ground surface level.

Typical year

• TMY (1970/1980 – 2010) acc. ANSI/ASHRAE – Option selects the most "typical" month for each of the 12 months based on the ANSI/ASHRAE TMY standard selection method.
• TMY (1970/1980 – 2010) acc. ISO– Option selects the most "typical" month for each of the 12 months based on the ISO TMY standard selection method.
• TMY (1995-2015) acc. ANSI/ASHRAE – Option selects the most "typical" month for each of the 12 months based on the ANSI/ASHRAE TMY standard selection method using data between 1995 and 2015.
• TMY (1995-2015) acc. ISO– Option selects the most "typical" month for each of the 12 months based on the ISO TMY standard selection method using data between 1995 and 2015.
• TRY (1994-2013) acc. CIBSE- Option selects a typical but mild month for each of the 12 months based on the CIBSE TRY standard using data between 1994 and 2013. Note that although this option uses the CIBSE selection method, you must use CIBSE's official files for compliance purposes.

Extreme year

Examples of extreme year selection criteria are listed below. A range of alternative selection criteria are also available. Please contact us for more information on the full range of extreme year options.

• ISO/ANSI n day Cooling sizing - Select the year with the highest maximum temperature averaged over n days. That is the sequence of n days whose maximum temperatures, when averaged, are higher than the average for any other sequence of n days. This option is ideal for analysing building performance during extreme heatwaves of various durations. Available options for n are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20. 
• ISO/ANSI n day Heating sizing - Select the year with the lowest minimum temperature averaged over n days. That is the sequence of n days whose minimum temperatures, when averaged, are lower than the average for any other sequence of n days. This option is ideal for analysing building performance during extreme periods of very cold weather. Available options for n are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20.

• Coldest year - Select the coldest year in the period 1970-2021 by comparing the average of the daily average outdoor air temperatures.  The year with the coldest annual average daily temperature is selected.
• Average year - Select the year in the period 1970-2021 with the most average temperature by comparing the average of the daily average outdoor air temperatures. The year with the most annual average temperature is selected.
• Warmest year - Select the warmest year in the period 1970-2021 by comparing the average of the daily average outdoor air temperatures. The year with the warmest annual average daily temperature is selected for download.
• Most humid year - Select the most humid year in the period 1970-2021 by comparing the average of the daily average outdoor air relative humidity.  The year with the highest daily average relative humidity is selected for download.
• Least humid year - Select the least humid year in the period 1970-2021 by comparing the average of the daily average outdoor air relative humidity.  The year with the lowest daily average relative humidity is selected for download.

Future projection year

• IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, 2021)- The most recent and advanced SSP and RCP scenarios, considering various socioeconomic factors and their interactions with climate change. Scenario options are:
  • SSP1 / RCP 2.6
  • SSP2 / RCP 4.5
  • SSP3 / RCP 7.0
  • SSP5/ RCP 8.5

           Years:

• 2050
• 2080

• IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4, 2007) - Updated scenarios that improved upon SRES, incorporating more recent data and modeling techniques.
• Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (IPCC SRES, 2000) - The first comprehensive set of scenarios, widely used in early climate change studies.

For more information about the various future climate projection options, please refer to the Climate Change Scenarios help page.

Project location

The list of the available weather stations can be downloaded from the Climate Analytics Station List Knowledge base article. 

Alternatively, if your location is not on the list of available weather stations, please provide the specific location required, ideally with its latitide and longitude.

See also:

• Ordering CIBSE weather files
• Add a new custom weather file (EPW) to project