The Environment Canada website has the latest version of the CWEC files - .epw and raw, .wy3 format. The .epw file does not include the snow rain flags but the raw data .wy3 file does. I converted the .wy3 file to .bin using the DOE2 weather processor and voila, the snow and rain flags are included in the .bin file. Now, I only converted 1 file as a test but it is encouraging.
Christopher R. Jones, P.Eng.
Technical Specialist
Sustainability & Energy
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T +1 416-644-0252
2300 Yonge Street, Suite 2300
Toronto, ON M4P 1E4 Canada
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Christopher,
This is very interesting information for several reasons:
(1) the snow and rain flags are not part of the raw data stream from the weather stations,
so I've assumed they have to be extracted from the Present Weather reports,
(2) the wy3 is a derived weather file format developed for ASHRAE back in the late 1990s
so old that Env Canada might be the only place still using it; I'm not aware that the wy3
contains the snow/rain flags but they must have been put there by Env. Canada, and I would
be very interested to see how these flags correlate to what I can get from the Present
Weather data in the raw weather files.
In the little bit of time I've spent looking into this issue over the past week, I was
unsure which of the PW codes should be used for the Snow/Rain flags.? Take a look at the
attached table of Present Weather Observation Codes currently used in weather station
reports, i.e., METAR.? Should we use all the 7's as ISNOW, although 74 - 76 refers to "Ice
Pellets", and what about 85 - 87 referring to "Snow showers or intermittent rain"??
Similarly, we can use all the 6's as IRAIN, but what about? 24 (Rain), 25 (Freezing
Drizzle), etc.??? That's why I'm very interested to see what Env. Canada did.
(I'm also adding BLDG-SIM back to this post because the same issue has been in discussions
there, too.
Joe
Joe Huang
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com for simulation-ready weather data
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"
Joe,
Your question is valid. When I look at the .wy3 file, there are a number of rain and snow entries. I am not sure how the DOE2 weather processor sorts these out to arrive at one rain flag and one snow flag.
Note, I had to rearrange the .wy3 file to align the columns so the DOE2 weather processor recognized the fields. I was successful for all fields except the wind direction. I am not sure where I am going wrong but I can see the wind direction in the .wy3 file and it matches the .epw file values.
Christopher R. Jones, P.Eng.
Technical Specialist
Sustainability & Energy
[cid:image001.png at 01D38B84.83C24FD0]
T +1 416-644-0252
2300 Yonge Street, Suite 2300
Toronto, ON M4P 1E4 Canada
wsp.com
Please consider the environment before printing...
Chirstopher,
I hope you're aware that the wind direction in the DOE-2 files are from 0 to 16, while
those in the standard weather reports and *.wy3 and *.epw formats are in degrees 0-360.
Joe
Joe Huang
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com for simulation-ready weather data
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"
Joe,
Your question is valid. When I look at the .wy3 file, there are a number of rain and snow entries. I am not sure how the DOE2 weather processor sorts these out to arrive at one rain flag and one snow flag.
Note, I had to rearrange the .wy3 file to align the columns so the DOE2 weather processor recognized the fields. I was successful for all fields except the wind direction. I am not sure where I am going wrong but I can see the wind direction in the .wy3 file and it matches the .epw file values.
Christopher R. Jones, P.Eng.
Technical Specialist
Sustainability & Energy
[cid:image001.png at 01D38B84.83C24FD0]
T +1 416-644-0252
2300 Yonge Street, Suite 2300
Toronto, ON M4P 1E4 Canada
wsp.com
Please consider the environment before printing...
Chirstopher,
I hope you're aware that the wind direction in the DOE-2 files are from 0 to 16, while
those in the standard weather reports and *.wy3 and *.epw formats are in degrees 0-360.
Joe
Joe Huang
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com for simulation-ready weather data
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"