About the Summer 2017 in Saint Petersburg, Russia Hello friends, In this article I would like to tell you some facts about the last summer weather in Saint Petersburg. For clarity, I want to illustrate the situation with statistical data. Sunny days rarely come to replace the rain. Sometimes we could even see the snow. This summer has become the coldest in the last 24 years. It was cloudy weather. A comfortable summer temperature is about +20-25 degrees Celsius. It is 68-77 degrees Fahrenheit. In June, we had only seven such days, in July - 17, in August - 19. Now I want to write some statistics. 1. August was the warmest month of last summer. The average temperature was +17.3 degrees Celsius, equivalent to 63.1 degrees Fahrenheit. In June, the average temperature was +13.6 degrees Celsius, or 56.5 degrees Fahrenheit. In July, the average temperature was +16.5 degrees Celsius, or 61.7 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. The average temperature over summer was +15.8 degrees Celsius, or 60.4 degrees Fahrenheit. 3. The temperature maximum was +27.2 degrees Celsius (80.7 degrees Fahrenheit). It was the day of August, 19. At night on June, 2 the temperature minimum was reached. It was +3.5 degrees Celsius (38.3 degrees Fahrenheit). 4. Twelve cloudless days were in Saint Petersburg this summer. Half of them were in June. What does a cloudless day mean? This is the day when the clouds covered less than ten percent of the sky. 5. It was rained 59 days out of 92 summer days. Almost two months out of three. 6. Hail was three times in the city, once every month. Saint Petersburg is the city of rains. So, if you are going to visit Saint Petersburg this summer, dress warmly. And do not forget to bring a raincoat, an umbrella, and rubber boots. Thanks for reading! I plan to consider some myths about my hometown in the next article. If you have any corrections, comments, or questions, feel free to write them down. Have a nice sunny day!

About the Russian writer Alexander Volkov (Александр Волков) Hello world, It is my first article here. Today I decided to tell some words about one of my favourites among Russians who inspire me. This is Alexander Volkov. He was a Soviet writer, translator, and teacher. Maybe you have heard of series of books The Wizard of the Emerald City. He is the author. But children's books were not his only literary achievement, and literature was not the main kind of activity. Alexander Volkov was born on July 14, 1891, in Ust-Kamenogorsk town. His parents were a military man and dressmaker. Alexandr learned to read in three years old. At the age of eight, he learned to bind books. He even began to earn on it, taking orders for binding books from rich neighbors. On his first education, Volkov was a teacher. He taught at a pedagogical technical school. At the same time, he started writing plays that he performed with his students. In addition, Alexandr learned German and French for himself. He decided to move to Moscow with his family and to enter Moscow State University in 1929. Imagine that just in seven months he overcame the five-year course of the mathematical faculty! After graduating from Moscow State University, he worked as a teacher of higher mathematics at a university for twenty years. Also he taught an elective course in literature for students. He worked hard as a translator as well. The sharpest turn in the Volkov’s life happened when he decided to study a new language - English. For practicing he took The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book written by L. Frank Baum. Alexander was impressed the book very much. He retold the story of the book to his sons, adding and remaking some things. Eventually, it turned out to be a completely different book. Alexander Volkov worked on the manuscript for a year and entitled it The Wizard of the Emerald City with the subtitle Conversion the Fairy Tale of American Writer Frank Baum. The manuscript was given to the publishing house. After the publication of this book Volkov began to receive many letters from children. They asked the writer to continue the fairy tale about the adventures of the kind little girl Ellie and her faithful friends - Scarecrow, Ironcutter, Cowardly lion and funny Totochka dog. The writer came up with a sequel. He wrote five new tales. The subjects of this series of books developed the themes of self-improvement, the power of friendship, capable of creating real miracles. Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, please write them down below.