The weather describes the current state of atmosphere at a defined place. Typical parameters for the weather description are air temperature and humidity, air pressure, wind speed and direction, precipitation and radiation.

Most of the weather stations are additionally instrumented with soil temperature and moisture probes. The weather influences various processes in the boundary layer of the soil-plant-vegetation. The soil water balance, microbiological processes and the plant-physiology are directly linked to the current weather conditions. The knowledge of weather and weather changes is essential for nearly all scientific researches.