CH-81-12-2 (RP-239) -- Development of Hourly Data for Weather Year for Energy Calculations (WYEC), Including Solar Data, at 21 Stations Throughout the U.S.

Sets of hourly data, representing the long term mean of both temperature and solar radiation, have been prepared for 21 U.S. metropolitan areas. The 8760 sequential hourly values for all weather elements, including solar data, have been placed on magnetic tape for use in computer calculations of energy requirements. Following the initial selection of an individual month which had recorded mean temperatures, further refinement was accomplished by substituting daily sets of data from the same month in other years which would bring the adjusted monthly values to or very near the long term mean. Similar substitution and adjustment procedures were used to produce hourly solar data equal to the long term mean for each month. A recommended interpolation procedure is developed using heating degree day values to the base 50°F for winter and median wet-bulb temperatures for summer data based on data sets throughout the state of Ohio.