Madelynn Wuestenberg is an agricultural climatologist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. This role is 100% Extension, so her time is spent developing resources related to climate and agriculture, providing timely climate or weather updates, and studying how climate variability may influence current production systems.

Wuestenberg’s background is in meteorology. She earned a bachelor’s degree in meteorology with a minor in agronomy from Iowa State, then stayed to earn a master’s degree in agricultural meteorology. Wuestenberg’s master’s degree research focused on agro-ecosystem modeling.

Her primary experience is in row crop systems, but she is learning more about specialty crop systems through this position and hopes to serve many kinds of producers in Iowa, she said.

For two years, Wuestenberg served as the vice president for the Central Iowa National Weather Association and helped coordinate an annual Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference. Severe weather is not her expertise, but she made many connections through this experience and has strong relationships with meteorologists across the Midwest.