Author: Ben Castellani (Page 243 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.

DayCAST: Thu 08/16/18

August 16, 2018 / Ben Castellani

Precipitable water values today will reach around 0.8" in the Metro area, about double what they were yesterday. This should lend to more clouds developing this afternoon and a slightly better chance of isolated thunderstorms. Still most of the shower activity will be south of Interstate 70 in southern Colorado where moisture is more prevalent. Expect just a 5 to …

This is why Colorado’s historically warm summer has cooled off

August 15, 2018 / Ben Castellani

Not long ago, 2018 was in the running with 2012 for the hottest summer on record for many Front Range cities. However, a subtle but crucial pattern shift has kept our temperatures on the cool side for the last three weeks, knocking this summer back to a status closer to normal. We discuss this shift and provide an update on our summer forecasting contest which wraps up at the end of the month.

DayCAST: Wed 08/15/18

August 15, 2018 / Ben Castellani

Well....the capping layer of warm air did not hold yesterday. We expected that this layer would largely suppress most of the thunderstorm activity and prevent severe weather across the Metro area, despite otherwise favorable ingredients in place. Unfortunately, models got it wrong and us as well, with scattered storms developing. Several of these storms produced 1" hail and 60 mph wind gusts …

DayCAST: Tue 08/14/18

August 14, 2018 / Ben Castellani

The cut-off low pressure that was in southeast Colorado yesterday has pushed eastward into central Kansas today. Outside of some slightly cooler air, this storm system won't be influencing our region much more. Flow at 500 mb has already returned to normal (i.e. northwesterly). You don't have to be a meteorologist to know this, however....the thicker smoke is an easy tell. In …

This week in weather: August 13, 2018

August 13, 2018 / Ben Castellani

Thunderstorms and smoke will be on the increase through the week, with temperatures remaining near normal across the Front Range.

DayCAST: Thu 08/09/18

August 9, 2018 / Ben Castellani

The weather today for us will be very similar to yesterday. North-northwest flow and just enough moisture will be around to produce a couple isolated thundershowers this afternoon and evening, mainly across the higher elevations. Given the predominantly northerly direction to the steering winds, it's quite unlikely any storms will find their way onto the Plains, but there is at …

DayCAST: Wed 08/08/18

August 8, 2018 / Ben Castellani

Today's 500mb map below shows high pressure is centered near Las Vegas. Unlike yesterday (and the day before), there will be no upper-level forcing to help kick off storms this afternoon. Yesterday's weak disturbance is annotated below across Oklahoma and Kansas. Notice how smooth and calm things are across Colorado. The precipitable water anomaly forecast map below shows all the dry …