At BoulderCAST, our meteorologists understand the intricacies of complex terrain and the direct impact it has on Front Range weather. From the mouth of Boulder Canyon, to the towns of Broomfield and Aurora out on the plains, to the 14,259-foot summit of Longs Peak, we provide the most accurate weather forecasts and information for Boulder, the Denver Metro area, and Colorado beyond.

capture
.

MEET THE TEAM

Ben Castellani, M.S.   Ben grew up in a tiny town in rural western Pennsylvania and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 2010 and later a master’s degree from the University of Colorado in Atmospheric Science in 2014. Alongside this schooling, he worked at NOAA on a project that involved living in central Greenland for nearly a year, taking ground-breaking measurements of clouds and snowfall at temperatures as cold as -80°F! Ben has been providing forecasts for friends, family, and colleagues around the world for years, but particularly enjoys the added topographic challenges of forecasting Denver’s fierce winter storms.

Ben currently works in software at NV5 Geospatial Solutions in Boulder, striving to make the scientific programming language IDL better every day.

.

.

Andrew Kren, Ph.D.   Andrew grew up in Missouri and attended St. Louis University receiving his bachelor’s and master’s in Meteorology. In the process, he developed a mesonet across his home-state. He also obtained a PhD in Atmospheric Science from the University of Colorado in 2015 with an emphasis on sun-climate connections. Afterwards, he completed five years of research on utilizing UAVs to improve winter storm and hurricane forecasting.

Andrew now works as a full-time meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh, North Carolina.

 

 

Matt

Matthew Steiner, M.S.   Growing up in the suburbs of Mobile, Alabama, Matt has lived through many strong hurricanes, including Katrina. He has a bachelor’s degree in Meteorology from the University of South Alabama. It was there he became interested in weather forecasting. Matt worked for Alert Weather Services in Lafayette, Louisiana for nearly two years, forecasting weather and sea conditions for offshore clients. Matt’s passion for hurricanes easily makes him our tropical expert. Matt went on to get his master’s degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Colorado in 2017. His graduate research focused on orographic precipitation in Front Range Colorado.

Matt now works as an operational meteorologist with the United States Air Force stationed in Phoenix, Arizona. His forecasts are critical to keeping our country’s worldwide military operations successful and safe .

 

 

josh_atkins_profile

Josh Aikins, M.S.   Josh received a bachelor’s degree in Meteorology from Penn State in 2012, where he was also a forecaster for the university’s weather service. He is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado in Boulder, with studies focused around cloud microphysics and dynamics within winter orographic storms. He has a passion for precipitation research and forecasting, as well as mountain meteorology. Like most of our team, Josh loves skiing and hiking in Colorado’s High Country where he can witness this weather first-hand. In his spare time, Josh captures stunning time-lapses of weather and aerial drone footage. 

Josh currently works as a graduate research assistant at NOAA’s Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, with hopes to finish his Ph.D. in the not-so-distant future.

 

 

keah_schuenemann_profile_pic

Keah Schuenemann, Ph.D   Keah was inspired to explore meteorology after witnessing an F5 tornado while growing up in Wisconsin.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Wisconsin in 2004 where her interests expanded to climate change.  She then got her master’s in 2006 and Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Colorado in 2008 by creating a climatology of weather patterns and precipitation near Greenland.  For Keah, snow evokes nostalgia for home, but she tries to not let that cloud her judgment while forecasting Front Range snowstorms.  She enjoys finding new ways to explain complex meteorology and climate change concepts to her students and the public.

Nowadays, Keah is an associate professor of meteorology at Metropolitan State University of Denver where she teaches climate change, dynamic meteorology, and advanced synoptic meteorology to undergraduates.