Author: Ben Castellani (Page 198 of 358)

Ben grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania and holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in Meteorology, the latter being from CU Boulder. His hometown received nearly three feet of snow from the Storm of the Century back in March of 1993, sparking his initial interest in impactful weather. Ben currently works on remote sensing and data analysis software at NV5 Geospatial Software in Boulder.

Barely any ice is covering the Great Lakes at the end of January!

January 22, 2020 / Ben Castellani

It has been an extraordinarily warm winter thus far for much of United States, eastern Colorado included. The lack of extended cold has kept the surface of the Great Lakes largely ice-free so far, which is quite atypical. We discuss the implications this can have on regional weather and how it relates to our warming climate.

DayCAST: Wed 01/22/20

January 22, 2020 / Ben Castellani

Less clouds, still mild The deep blob of subtropical moisture which blanketed the area yesterday has thinned out considerably overnight. We did indeed break the daily record in Denver for precipitable water on Tuesday. The morning balloon launch at Stapleton Airport measured 0.38" (below on the right), beating the old daily record of 0.33" (below on the left). FYI this …

DayCAST: Tue 01/21/20

January 21, 2020 / Ben Castellani

An overcast Tuesday The big change for today will be the introduction of widespread mid and upper-level clouds. These are associated with a broad but very weak trough axis embedded in the southwest flow (see below). Fun fact: both the GFS and NAM models are forecasting precipitable water values near all-time record highs for the date this morning in the …

DayCAST: Thu 01/16/20

January 16, 2020 / Ben Castellani

Cloudy with a chance of Denver Cyclone The storm track has been harsh this week with frequent weak shortwaves pushing across the area. These have produced some Mountain snow, but not much of anything elsewhere outside of a little wind. Today we will be under a brief ridge of high pressure aloft with southwest flow. This will translate into quieter …

DayCAST: Wed 01/15/20

January 15, 2020 / Ben Castellani

Cool & quiet A weak frontal boundary pushed across the Denver Metro area last night associated with the trough that skirted the region and produced light snow accumulations in the Mountains. The cool front last night was barely noticeable through surface observations, but cooler air has clearly filtered in aloft. The NAM model forecast 700 mb temperature maps below show …

DayCAST: Tue 01/14/20

January 14, 2020 / Ben Castellani

Mountain wave last evening Did you notice the strong winds last night? They were brief, but they did arrive right on schedule during the early evening hours in and near the Foothills. The graph below shows winds (red) and gusts (blue) at the NCAR Mesa Lab in south Boulder. Winds were strongest between 5 and 7 PM, gusting to nearly …

This week in Colorado weather: January 13, 2020

January 13, 2020 / Ben Castellani

The pipeline remains active for quick-moving disturbances to trek across Colorado. Mountain snow is the main story this week, though gusty downslope winds across the lower elevations come in as a close second.