Weather files
Climate change needs to be considered when designing a building for the comfort and safety of its occupants. Future-shifted weather files can be used to understand how building energy performance will be affected by climate change. Future-shifted weather files have been produced for the locations across Canada listed in the . The weather files are adjusted using an ensemble of CMIP6 climate model projections following low (SSP1-2.6), moderate (SSP2-4.5) and high (SSP5-8.5) emissions scenarios.
Within the future-shifted weather files data portal, users can:
- Filter by city, province, postal code, latitude-longitude, elevation and time period, or browse the directory
- Access data for five future time periods (2040s, 2050s, 2060s, 2070s, and 2080s)
- Download the data in EPW file format
About the data
Future-shifted weather files have been used to inform the , which provides information on key strategies to address overheating and indoor air quality in a changing climate. They have also been used by the University of British Columbia and RDH Building Science for guidance on. In addition, future-adjusted weather files were applied in the design of a .
The weather files are available in the . The method for future-shifting applies an additive and/or multiplicative adjustment to the historical values on a daily basis, based on the model-projected change.
In December 2024, the weather files were updated to version 3. They are now extended to include all CWEC2020 locations in Canada, using a baseline period of 1998-2017 and model projections from CMIP6. Future-shifted files for CWE2016 locations in Canada (v2.2), based on CMIP5 models, are also available.
| File Versions | |||||
|
Version |
Date |
Variables |
Data Source |
Baseline Period |
Other Notes |
|
3.0 |
December 2024 |
Thermodynamic |
CWEC2020 |
1998-2017 |
Updated CWEC (historical) data and model projections/scenarios (CMIP6/SSPs). |
|
2.2 |
May 2022 |
Thermodynamic |
CWEC2016 |
1998-2014 |
Added correction to prevent future dewpoint temperature exceeding dry bulb temperature in certain cases. Header additions moved to comment lines 1 and 2. |
|
2.1 |
July 2020 |
Thermodynamic |
CWEC2016 |
1998-2014 |
Morph all thermodynamic variables not just temperatures. Now Canada-wide. |
|
2.0 |
February 2020 |
Temperature |
CWEC2016 |
1998-2014 |
Change the baseline from 1971-2000 to use the period that months are selected from in CWEC2016 (1998-2014). |
|
1.0 |
October 2019 |
Temperature |
CWEC2016 |
1971-2000 |
Data source from CWEC2012 to CWEC2016. |
|
0.2 |
June 2019 |
Temperature |
CWEC2012 |
1971-2000 |
First online launch, CWEC locations only. |
|
0.1 |
November 2018 | Multiple options | CWEC2012 | 1971-2000 | Initial beta testing, manually created custom files, some at specific locations bias corrected with PRISM. |
Ek, M., T. Murdock, S. Sobie, B. Cavkac, B. Coughlin and R. Wells, 2018: . 1st International Conference on New Horizons in Green Civil Engineering (NHICE-01). Victoria, BC, Canada. 糖心视频, 408-416.
Belcher S., Hacker J., Powell D. 2005. Constructing design weather data for future climates. Building Services Engineering Research and Technology. 26(1): 49-61.