Saratov in the context of "Forest-steppe"

A forest steppe is a temperate-climate ecotone and habitat type composed of grassland interspersed with areas of woodland or forest.

Saratov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Saratov. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 2,442,575.

A virga, also called a dry storm, is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation that evaporates or sublimates before reaching the ground. A shaft of precipitation that does not evaporate before reaching the ground is known in meteorology as a precipitation shaft. At high altitudes, precipitation falls mainly as ice crystals before melting and finally evaporating. This is often due to compressional heating, because air pressure increases closer to the ground. Virga is very common in deserts and temperate climates. In North America, it is commonly seen in the Western United States and the Canadian Prairies. It is also very common in the Middle East, Australia, and North Africa.

Virgae can cause varying weather effects because as rain is changed from liquid to vapor form it removes significant amounts of heat from the air due to water's high heat of vaporization. Precipitation falling into these cooling downdrafts may eventually reach the ground. In some instances these pockets of colder air can descend rapidly, creating a wet or dry microburst which can be extremely hazardous to aviation. Conversely, precipitation evaporating at high altitude can compressionally heat as it falls, and result in a gusty downburst which may substantially and rapidly warm the surface temperature. This fairly rare phenomenon, a heat burst, also tends to be of exceedingly dry air.

The Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume ("The Golden Abode of the Buddha Sakyamuni", Kalmyk: Бурхн Багшин алтн сүм, romanized: Burxn Bagşin altn süm, [burˈxən baxˈʃin aɫˈtən syˈmə]; Russian: Золотая обитель Будды Шакьямуни, romanized: Zolotaya obitel Buddy Shakyamuni) is a Gelug Buddhist monastery in Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. The temple is the largest Buddhist temple in Russia and Europe, and it contains the third largest Buddha statue in Europe — 9 m (30 ft), with only the 10 m (33 ft) tall Miró Buddha in Paris and the 12.5 m (41 ft) tall Buddha in Lagan being bigger.

It was opened on December 27, 2005, at the site of a former factory. More than 5,000 people attended the opening ceremony, including representatives of Tibetan Buddhist communities from Moscow, Volgograd and Saratov.

The Volga Germans (German: Wolgadeutsche, pronounced [ˈvɔlɡaˌdɔʏtʃə] ; Russian: поволжские немцы, romanized: povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and close to Ukraine nearer to the south.

Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain their German culture, language, traditions and churches (Lutheran, Reformed, Catholics, Moravians and Mennonites). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Volga Germans emigrated to the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina.