Site-specific weather files and data (historical, current, and future)
Altostratus Inc. creates site-specific weather files and high-resolution weather data (e.g., 200 - 50 m) for various applications, including for energy modeling, analysis, and forecasting. Fine-scale microclimate zones are also developed for energy and environmental planning. Past, current, and future weather data are created based on observations from high-density monitoring networks and advanced, high-resolution atmospheric modeling.
- Sample high-resolution weather files and data (for current and future climates) are available for downloading. Contact us for FTP access information.
- The article link below (PDF) provides information on methodology and some of the available weather files.
- Contact us to create site-specific weather data for your project or location of interest (see, as an example, the two California domains below).
Some highlights:
- Advanced high-resolution atmospheric models and parameterizations tailored specifically to desired locations and sites (simulations are specific to site)
- Meteorological observations from mesonet and urbanet to augment the model
- Detailed remote-sensing and in-situ land-use and site characterizations
- Site-specific weather files formatted for input to building energy models, including for historical, probabilistic, actual, and future meteorological years
- Fine-scale microclimate zoning for planning and energy forecasting as an alternative to current, coarse, airport-based climate zones
- Weather files/data for historical, actual, current and future climates accounting for fine-scale intra-urban variations in microclimates
- Current and future land-use conditions and projections accounted for in dynamical downscaling of climate models
- Code-compliance and LEED-related modeling and applications.
The following article (pdf file link, below) provides a brief summary of methods, models, data, and weather-file samples (for the Sacramento, California area as an example). A version of this article also appeared in the IBPSA World Newsletter, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 29-41: 
www.ibpsa.org/Newsletter/IBPSANews-30-2.pdf. Contact us for more information or if interested in developing weather data that are specific to your location or project.
