In the heart of the black earth region of Russia, on both banks of the Voronezh reservoir, lies the ancient Russian city of Voronezh. The climate of the regional center has temperate continental characteristics. The average temperature in the midst of the winter months ranges from -8…-10 °C.
Climatic conditions
Summer brings hot and dry climate to Voronezh. The thermometer often exceeds +30 °С, the average temperature varies in the range of +19…+21 °С. More than five hundred millimeters of precipitation falls on the territory of the city during one year.
At the very end of December, and sometimes in January, the long-awaited snow comes to Voronezh. The climate in the city in winter is marked by the influence of south and west winds.
In summer, northern and eastern air currents dominate the territory of the municipality, which often bring a strong cold snap at the end of June. The windiest time of the year is winter.
Winter
Winter lasts for about one hundred and twenty days in the city of Voronezh. The climate in these parts often surprises the inhabitants. The winter season is volatile.
Periods of severe frosts give way to thaws. The air temperature is changing rapidly. The daily difference in thermometer readings can be ten or even twenty degrees.
Spring
The weather in Voronezh in the spring is just as unpredictable. March is characterized by abundant snowmelt. The thermometer rushes to divisions with a plus sign.
April gives the inhabitants of the metropolis the warmth that is so desired after a long winter, but it is also deceptive in these places. Daytime temperatures of +20 °С can easily be replaced by night frosts with snow and blizzards.
Summer
The weather in Voronezh in summer is under the direct influence of Kazakhstani air masses. They bring dry and hot days to the region. A systematic decrease in temperature occurs in the second half of August. Thus, the nature of Voronezh begins to prepare for the coming autumn.
Autumn
Already in September, it becomes noticeably cooler in the regional center, the difference between day and night air temperatures increases.
According to the geographical information, Voronezh is a climatic zone, which includes both the city itself and the region headed by it. It occupies the territory between the Lipetsk, Tambov, Belgorod, Volgograd, Saratov, Kursk and Rostov regions. In addition, the region shares a common border with Ukraine.
Environmental situation
The ecology of Voronezh is recognized as relatively safe, in comparison with the natural conditions of other settlements of the Russian Federation. There are severalnature reserves and sanctuaries. Some of them have been given the international status of biosphere reserves.
Resource base
In various regions of the Voronezh region, mining and mineral raw materials are being mined. In the quarries of the deposits, granites and special refractory clays are mined. Sands, limestones, clays, mineral pigments, loams and sandstones are present almost everywhere in the region.
Hundreds of quarries have been given the official status of deposits. More than half of them are in active development.
Reservoirs
The main river of the region is the Don. One way or another, all the rivers and streams that carry their waters through the lands of the Voronezh region belong to its single basin. In addition to the Don River, other large reservoirs flow near Voronezh. We are talking about the rivers Voronezh and Bityug, Khoper, Maiden, Chernaya Kalitva, Vorona.
The Voronezh River is partially dammed and is used as an urban reservoir, which divides the regional center into two parts: the left and right banks of the city.
Forests and steppes
The Voronezh region can be confidently attributed both to regions with abundant forest plantations, and to those characterized by the presence of a steppe landscape. The north of the region is predominantly forest, but the south is steppe.
Forest tracts occupy about five hundred thousand hectares. Exploited or potentially exploited forests are represented by plantations in the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand hectares.
The number of coniferous and forest plantations is almost equal. Coniferous species occupy one hundred and three thousand hectares, and deciduous species occupy one hundred and eighty thousand. About two hundred thousand hectares are exposed to fires and forest fires annually.
Voronezh Nature Reserve
The Voronezh nature reserve stretches along the northern tip of the Voronezh region towards Lipetsk. The status of a natural zone protected by the state was assigned to it in 1927.
The area of the biosphere reserve exceeds thirty thousand hectares, of which twenty-eight thousand are represented by forest plantations. Small rivers Khava, Usman and Ivnitsa flow on the territory of the reserve.
The basis of the reserve is coniferous forests, in particular pine. The age of the oldest trees has exceeded one hundred and thirty years. There are also oaks, mountain ash, birch, broom. The soil in the forest is almost completely covered with mosses. Meadows covered with nettles, sedge, meadowsweet stretched near the rivers and next to the wetlands. Forest berries grow in swamps.
Animal world
In total, more than one hundred and fifty different species of birds, fifty mammals and eight types of reptiles are registered in the reserve. Beavers, deer, wild boars and elk, otters, roe deer, and muskrats are found in the largest numbers in the forest. From birds, ornithologists distinguish the heron, eagle, crane, owl, osprey.
No less rich and diverse is the fauna of another reserve in the Voronezh region. Wolves and hares, foxes, badgers, weasels andminks, ferrets, ground squirrels, jerboas, squirrels and water rats.
