Author: Ben Castellani (Page 200 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.

Premium Storm Update Sat 12/28/19 7:00 AM

December 28, 2019 / Ben Castellani

Alarge conglomeration of moderate snowfall has developed across primarily the northern Metro area overnight, though this is starting to spread southward into Denver as well as of 6:30 AM. In Boulder, we already have around 1.5" of snow on the ground. In the GOES-East infrared satellite animation below, the colder/deeper cloud tops over the northern Front Range are visible indicating …

Winter Storm Update: Models are still confused about Saturday’s snowstorm

December 27, 2019 / Ben Castellani

Yikes! A surprisingly high amount of uncertainty remains regarding the incoming winter storm making for a difficult forecast heading into Saturday. We provide a quick update, including our team’s thoughts on the most recent model runs and if any tweaks are needed to our prior snowfall forecast (spoiler alert: they are!).

PREMIUM STORM UPDATE (7:00 AM Sat 12/28/19): We do a quick check on how the forecast looks early Saturday as moderate snow falls across the Front Range. We talk forecast amounts, waning snowfall intensity, and gusty winds expected later today. Click HERE to read.

DayCAST: Thu 12/26/19

December 26, 2019 / Ben Castellani

Cooler Thursday with a touch of snow The moderately strong southwest flow aloft we've been dealing with for the last several days has weakened and turned more westerly today. The disorganized trough across the West is not looking so disorganized anymore as most of the energy has consolidated into a single cut-off low along the California/Baja border. The disturbance that …

DayCAST: Wed 12/25/19

December 25, 2019 / Ben Castellani

The disorganized Pacific trough of low pressure across the western half of the country continues to be the story today. The main core of the trough remains just offshore from northern California (see red "L" below). To the east, several weak embedded shortwaves are evident (red dashed lines below). One such wave will be moving across Colorado through the afternoon …

DayCAST: Tue 12/24/19

December 24, 2019 / Ben Castellani

The stagnant pattern over the CONUS remains today with the ridge now centered slightly further east in the southern Plains and the trough located over California. East of the trough, a strong southwesterly jet streak is embedded. This jet continues to pump plenty of mid and upper-level moisture northward. You don't have to take my word for it. Here's the …

This week in Colorado weather: December 23, 2019

December 23, 2019 / Ben Castellani

Unseasonably warm conditions will continue for the next few days before cooler and unsettled weather arrives later in the week. We’re also watching a potential winter storm but the track remains uncertain at this time.

DayCAST: Sun 12/22/19

December 22, 2019 / Ben Castellani

The big ridge is in full-control today. The GFS 500 mb height anomaly map below for this evening shows that the ridge axis has passed with a deep fetch of southwest flow spreading into Colorado. In this southwest flow, a pocket of elevated moisture has developed thick clouds across the area last night. As of mid-day, the all-sky camera on …