Climate
Saint Petersburg experiences a humid continental climate of the cool summer subtype (Köppen: Dfb), due to the distinct moderating influence of the Baltic Sea cyclones. Summers are typically cool, humid and quite short, while winters are long, cold, but with frequent warm spells. The average winter minimum is about -9°C (16°F), the record low temperature is -35.9°C (-33°F), recorded in 1883. Solid frozen ground is a normal part of winter there. The River Neva within the city limits usually freezes up in November-December (recent years in January), break-up occurs in April. On average there are 123 days with snow cover (stable from December to March), which reaches the average of 24 cm (9.5") by February. The frost-free period in the city lasts on average for about 135 days. There is some temperature variation within the city limits and the city itself experiences a climate slightly warmer than its suburbs. Weather conditions are, however, quite variable all over the year.
The highest temperatures of July and August were reached in 2010.
Average annual precipitation varies across the city, being about 600–750 mm per year on average and reaching maximum in late summer and in the north. Though this number is not high by itself, soil moisture is almost always excessive because of low evapotranspiration due to the cool climate. Relative humidity of air is also high (78% on average), overcast is common all over the year (165 days a year on average).
| Climate data for Saint Petersburg | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 8.6 (47.5) |
10.2 (50.4) |
14.9 (58.8) |
25.3 (77.5) |
30.9 (87.6) |
34.6 (94.3) |
35.3 (95.5) |
37.1 (98.8) |
30.4 (86.7) |
21.0 (69.8) |
12.3 (54.1) |
10.9 (51.6) |
37.1 (98.8) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −3.6 (25.5) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
1.8 (35.2) |
8.5 (47.3) |
15.6 (60.1) |
20.2 (68.4) |
22.2 (72.0) |
20.2 (68.4) |
14.4 (57.9) |
8.1 (46.6) |
1.8 (35.2) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
8.8 (47.8) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −8.8 (16.2) |
−8.8 (16.2) |
−4.2 (24.4) |
1.0 (33.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
11.8 (53.2) |
14.4 (57.9) |
13.0 (55.4) |
8.1 (46.6) |
3.4 (38.1) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
−6.4 (20.5) |
2.4 (36.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −35.9 (−32.6) |
−35.2 (−31.4) |
−29.9 (−21.8) |
−21.8 (−7.2) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
0.1 (32.2) |
4.9 (40.8) |
1.3 (34.3) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
−12.9 (8.8) |
−22.2 (−8.0) |
−34.4 (−29.9) |
−35.9 (−32.6) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 40 (1.57) |
31 (1.22) |
35 (1.38) |
33 (1.3) |
38 (1.5) |
64 (2.52) |
78 (3.07) |
77 (3.03) |
67 (2.64) |
65 (2.56) |
56 (2.2) |
49 (1.93) |
633 (24.92) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 21.7 | 53.2 | 124.0 | 180.0 | 260.4 | 276.0 | 266.6 | 213.9 | 129.0 | 71.3 | 24.0 | 12.4 | 1,632.5 |
| Source #1: Pogoda.ru.net | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: HKO (sunshine hours) | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Saint Petersburg
Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“Then climate is a great impediment to idle persons; we often resolve to give up the care of the weather, but still we regard the clouds and the rain.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Certainly parents play a crucial role in the lives of individuals who are intellectually gifted or creatively talented. But this role is not one of active instruction, of teaching children skills,... rather, it is support and encouragement parents give children and the intellectual climate that they create in the home which seem to be the critical factors.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“Nobody is so constituted as to be able to live everywhere and anywhere; and he who has great duties to perform, which lay claim to all his strength, has, in this respect, a very limited choice. The influence of climate upon the bodily functions ... extends so far, that a blunder in the choice of locality and climate is able not only to alienate a man from his actual duty, but also to withhold it from him altogether, so that he never even comes face to face with it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)