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 CWEC 2020 dataset. 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 BC Housing Step Code Design Guide Supplement on Overheating and Air Quality, 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 Designing Climate Resilient Multifamily Buildings. In addition, future-adjusted weather files were applied in the design of a passive house residence building at the University of Victoria.

The weather files are available in the EPW file format. 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.