Graduate student Madhu Urazada (Management of Complex Systems, School of Engineering) is investigating how snow droughts—winters with below-normal snowpack—followed by high evaporative demand during the growing season can deliver a “double whammy” to agricultural water resources.
Advised by Professor John Abatzoglou, Madhu’s early-stage research maps the frequency, drivers, and regional impacts of these sequential extremes across snowmelt-dependent croplands worldwide. By examining large-scale climate patterns such as ENSO, long-term warming, and land–atmosphere feedbacks, her work aims to help water managers and farmers anticipate high-irrigation-demand years and develop more resilient cropping strategies in regions like California’s Central Valley.