The relationship between weather and climate and their impact on agricultural activities is widely recognized as a crucial natural resource. As such, it is a fundamental input in agricultural planning. Agrometeorology, a specialized field of study, focuses on the interactions between meteorological, hydrological, and pedological factors that influence production systems in agriculture and related sectors, such as horticulture, animal husbandry, fishery, and forestry. The role of an agrometeorologist is to define these interactions, correlate physical environments with biological responses, and apply relevant meteorological skills to help farmers take advantage of favorable weather conditions and improve agricultural production in terms of both quality and quantity.

This textbook is designed for undergraduate students in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry and is based on the syllabus for the course "Agricultural Meteorology." The book is divided into twenty-three chapters that cover all aspects of agrometeorology. Chapter 1 discusses the concepts, definition, importance, scope, history, and future needs of agrometeorology. Chapter 2 provides basic information about the atmosphere. Chapters 3 to 13 focus on weather parameters such as radiation, temperature, humidity, evaporation, fog and dew, pressure, wind, clouds, monsoon, and precipitation, and their significance in agriculture. Chapters 14 to 22 explore applied aspects of meteorology, including climatic hazards, agroclimatic classification, micrometeorology of crops, weather in relation to crop pests and diseases, weather in relation to animal production, climate change, weather forecasting, remote sensing, and crop simulation modeling. Finally, Chapter 23 describes the features of an agrometeorological observatory.

Alok Kumar Patra graduated in Agriculture from Chiplima campus of Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology in 1988, obtained M.Sc. (Agriculture) in Agronomy from Institute of Agriculture, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan in 1990 and Ph. D. from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, West Bengal in 1996. He has an MBA degree from IGNOU, New Delhi.

Patra has published more than 90 research papers, 130 popular scientific articles and bulletins, eight books and 35 book chapters. He has 30 years of experience in research and teaching in UG and PG level on agroforestry and agronomy. Presently he is working as Chief Agronomist in the All India Coordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems, OUAT, Bhubaneswar-751 003, India

1. Introduction 2. Atmosphere 3. Solar Radiation 4. Atmospheric Temperature 5. Soil Temperature 6. Atmospheric Pressure 7. Atmospheric Motion 8. Atmospheric Moisture 9. Fog and Dew 10. Clouds 11. Precipitation 12. Monsoon 13. Evapotranspiration 14. Meteorological Hazards 15. Classification of Climates and Agroclimates 16. Climatic Requirements of Crops 17. Weather and Crop Pests 18. Weather and Animal Production 19. Climate Variability and Climate Change 20. Weather Forecasting 21. Remote Sensing 22. Crop Weather Modelling 23. Agrometeorological Observatory