Center for the Built Environment

Two techniques are developed and tested for creating composite and synthetic hourly weather data for a wide range of sites. The first technique selects real weather data segments from a source multiyear weather record, and links them into a composite synthetic year, in which the hourly values are unchanged from the source. The second technique adjusts the real hourly data values of the source to create a more completely synthetic year. The techniques may be applied individually or in combination. The resulting synthetic year or years can be used to provide data that is representative of long-term climate for building energy prediction either at the first-order station where the source hourly weather data were recorded, or at a nearby second-order station for which only summarized climate averages are available. Additionally, the adjustment technique can generate synthetic data to represent specific time periods at second-order stations for use in energy audits and experiments. The effectiveness of extrapolating weather data from one location to another is assessed, and the uses of the two techniques are described. Two user-interactive Fortran programs, SELECT and ADJUST, are appended.