Russian wordlists: Folk weather calendar

Winter

• Зимушка-зима (‘zimushka-zima’) – literally ‘wintery winter’, used in a fairy tale style, pronounced softly.
• Мороз-воевода (‘moroz-voevoda’) – ‘frost the voivode’, literally means that frost rules life in winter. 
• Холод собачий (‘kholod-sobachi’) – ‘dog’s cold’ means it’s so cold that even dogs are freezing.
• Зима (‘zima’) – ‘winter’ is also used in a metaphorical sense, for example: “В их отношениях наступила зима” (“V ikh otnosheniakh nastupilo zima”; “Winter began in their relationship”).
• Оттепель (‘ottopel’) – ‘thaw’ is a temporary warm period after a long, cold frost, a very important and long-awaited time (and even was transformed into a historical term referring to Khrushchev’s rule after Stalin’s period). Though after thaw, frost can hit (‘мороз ударил’; ‘moroz udaril’) again.

Spring

• Весна-красна (‘vesna-kraska’) – ‘spring is red’ refers to the outdated meaning of the word ‘красный’ as beautiful (like Red Square in Moscow).  
• Капель (‘kapel’) – literally ‘drops’, is connected with the thaw time and highlighting the fact that everything is melting and water is dropping from the roofs and trees. Everyone LOVES that sound.
• Распутица (‘rasputitsa’) – literally ‘mudslides’. When snow melts and because of mud roads become  impassable.
• Весна (‘spring’) is also used in a metaphorical sense, for example: “Весна ее жизни была омрачена долгой болезнью ее матери” (“Vesna yeyo zhizni byla omrachena dolgoi bolezniu yeyo materi”; “The spring of her life was dampened by the death of her mother”) meaning the youth period.

Summer

• Летний зной (‘letniy znoi’) – ‘summer heat’. ‘Зной’ is a very strong heat, also used to describe the noon time (‘полуденный зной’).
• Адская жара (‘adskaya zhara’) – ‘infernal heat’. Literally ‘heat’ is translated as ‘жара’. And as Russians with their climate are not used to it, they would think it’s something from evil forces, that only can happen in hell and that ruins the harvest. The peasants of the past believed God punished people this way. 
• Пекло (‘peklo’) – actually another synonym for ‘heat’ and also can be used with adjective ‘infernal’ (‘адское пекло’). ‘Пекло’ originates from the verb ‘печь’ (‘pech’), which means ‘bake’. 

Fall

• Золотая осень (‘zolotaya osen’) – ‘golden fall’, the time when trees turn yellow is marvelously praised and romanticized by dozens Russian poets. 
• Бабье лето (‘babye leto’) – ‘woman’s summer’ actually refers to a sudden and long warm period in the early fall. 
• Ненастье (‘nenastye’) – literally means ‘bad weather’ and reflects the sad emotions of people looking into the gray sky, rain, slush and mud.
• Осень (‘fall’, ‘autumn’) also is used in a metaphorical sense for describing the end, the dusk of life (‘осень жизни’; ‘osen zhizni’).