Astrakhan, Russia

Astrakhan is a city in Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The oldest economic and cultural center of the Lower Volga and the Caspian littoral. It is often referred to as Russia’s southern outpost and the Caspian capital. It is included among the 115 cities of Russia recognized as historically valuable. It is a member of the Eurasian Regional Branch of the World Organization “United Cities and Local Governments”. It entered the “Anti-rating of the poorest cities in Russia” along with Tolyatti and Penza.

The city is located in the upper part of the Volga delta, on 11 islands of the Caspian lowlands. The distance to Moscow by road is 1411 km. The city is divided into 4 administrative districts: Kirovsky, Sovetsky, Leninsky and Trusovsky. Population - 530 863 people (2014). The city area is 208,7 km². Since ancient times, the city has been considered multicultural. Today in Astrakhan live representatives of more than 100 nationalities, 14 religious denominations, and 17 societies of national cultures operate.

The climate of Astrakhan is moderate, sharply continental, with large annual and summer day-to-day ranges in air temperature, low precipitation and high water evaporation. The city is characterized by easterly, south-easterly and north-easterly winds; from April to August dry winds (siroccos) are observed. This type of climate is explained by the city’s geographical position in the semi-desert zone.

On average, there are 213 sunny days in Astrakhan per year. Day length in Astrakhan changes from 8 hours 36 minutes on December 22 to 15 hours 48 minutes on June 22. The annual precipitation norm is 234 mm. By the amount of precipitation, Astrakhan is the driest largest city in Europe.

The highest temperature recorded in Astrakhan throughout the entire observation period was +41 °C, and the lowest was -33,8 °C.