Annotated Weather Forecast

A weather forecast is one of the densest, most predictable registers in Russian — and that makes it a perfect grammar workout. In a few sentences it concentrates almost everything that's impersonal in the language: subjectless predicatives (бу́дет о́блачно "it'll be cloudy"), the -ся passive that gives forecasts their official voice (ожида́ется похолода́ние "a cold snap is expected"), the future tense for predictions, and temperatures wrapped in the genitive (до десяти́ гра́дусов моро́за "down to minus ten"). Decode one forecast and you can decode them all. Here's an original short forecast for tomorrow; read it through, then go sentence by sentence.

The forecast

Sentence by sentence

Прогно́з пого́ды на за́втра.

A typical forecast headline — a verbless noun phrase, idiomatic for titles and headings. Прогно́з пого́ды = "forecast of (the) weather": пого́ды is the genitive of пого́да ("weather"), an "of"-relationship (the forecast of the weather). На за́втра = "for tomorrow": на + accusative marks the period a forecast/plan covers ("for", looking ahead). За́втра here is treated as the accusative target. There's no verb because Russian headlines, like English ones, drop the copula.

За́втра ожида́ется похолода́ние.

This is the signature forecast sentence. Ожида́ется = "is expected", the -ся passive of ожида́ть ("to expect"). Adding -ся to a transitive verb turns it passive and impersonal: instead of "(we/forecasters) expect a cold snap", the forecast says "a cold snap is expected" — agentless, official, neutral. This is the dominant voice of the genre. See the -ся passive.

Crucially, the grammatical subject of ожида́ется is похолода́ние ("a cooling / cold snap", a neuter verbal noun from холо́дный "cold"). The verb agrees with it: похолода́ние is singular neuter → ожида́ется (singular). If the expected thing were plural, the verb would too: ожида́ются оса́дки ("precipitation is expected", оса́дки being plural). The -ся passive isn't truly subjectless — it has a subject, just an inanimate one, and no named agent.

Днём бу́дет о́блачно, места́ми дождь.

Two impersonal structures side by side.

• Днём = "in the daytime / during the day" — the bare instrumental of день used adverbially for time-of-day (днём, но́чью, у́тром, ве́чером). No preposition needed.
• Бу́дет о́блачно = "it will be cloudy". О́блачно is a predicative (the impersonal -о form), and there's no subject — exactly like Russian's хо́лодно ("it's cold"), темно́ ("it's dark"). The future is supplied by бу́дет ("(it) will be"), the only verb. So the literal structure is "(it) will-be cloudily" — pure impersonal weather grammar. See impersonal sentences.
• Места́ми дождь = "in places, rain". Места́ми ("in places / patchily") is the instrumental plural of ме́сто used adverbially — a forecast staple. And дождь ("rain") stands alone with no verb at all: the existence/occurrence is understood. This telegraphic, verbless style is characteristic of the register.

Температу́ра во́здуха — от трёх до семи́ гра́дусов тепла́.

The temperature line, and a genitive showcase. Температу́ра во́здуха = "air temperature" (во́здуха is the genitive of во́здух, "of the air"). The dash stands in for the missing copula.

От … до … ("from … to …") is the standard range frame, and both prepositions от and до take the genitive:

• от трёх — от + genitive of три ("three") → трёх.
• до семи́ — до + genitive of семь ("seven") → семи́.
• гра́дусов — "degrees", the genitive plural of гра́дус, governed by the numbers.
• тепла́ — genitive of тепло́ ("warmth, above-zero"), i.e. "degrees of warmth" = above zero. Its opposite is моро́за ("of frost") = below zero.

So "три–семь гра́дусов тепла́" = "+3 to +7°C". The whole construction stacks genitives: the range prepositions demand them, the numerals demand гра́дусов, and тепла́/моро́за specify the sign. See genitive with numbers.

Но́чью похолода́ет до десяти́ гра́дусов моро́за.

Но́чью = "at night" (instrumental of ночь, time-of-day). Похолода́ет is an impersonal future verb — "(it) will get colder", perfective of холода́ть, with no subject (a true impersonal verb, like темне́ет "it's getting dark"). До десяти́ гра́дусов моро́за = "down to ten degrees of frost", i.e. −10°C: до + genitive (десяти́, genitive of де́сять), гра́дусов (gen. pl.), моро́за (genitive of моро́з "frost" = below zero). The contrast тепла́ (above zero) / моро́за (below zero) is how Russian forecasts mark the sign of the temperature without a "+" or "−" word.

Ве́тер се́верный, уме́ренный, ме́стами поры́вистый.

A wind line, again verbless — telegraphic forecast style. Ве́тер ("wind", subject) is described by a string of adjectives in the nominative, agreeing with it (masculine singular): се́верный ("northerly" — from се́вер "north"; the others are ю́жный south, за́падный west, восто́чный east), уме́ренный ("moderate"), поры́вистый ("gusty"). Ме́стами ("in places") again localizes one feature. The copula is dropped because the register prizes brevity: "Wind: northerly, moderate, gusty in places."

К утру́ возмо́жен небольшо́й снег.

К утру́ = "towards / by morning": к + dative (утро → утру́), marking an approaching time point — forecasts love it (к ве́черу "by evening", к ночи́ "by nightfall"). Возмо́жен is a short-form adjective ("possible"), here predicative, agreeing in gender with its subject снег ("snow", masculine) → возмо́жен (a female-gender subject like о́ттепель would give возмо́жна). Небольшо́й = "light / not large" (literally "not-big"), the standard forecast word for light precipitation. So: "by morning, light snow (is) possible."

Бу́дьте осторо́жны на доро́гах: ожида́ется гололёд.

A safety closer. Бу́дьте осторо́жны = "be careful", the вы-imperative of быть ("be!") + the short-form adjective осторо́жны ("careful", plural, agreeing with the formal/plural addressee). Forecasts address the public formally — hence вы-imperative. На доро́гах = "on the roads", на + prepositional (доро́ги → доро́гах) for location. The clause closes with the same -ся passive frame: ожида́ется гололёд ("black ice is expected"; гололёд = the dangerous thin ice glaze on roads). The repetition of ожида́ется bookends the forecast in its characteristic agentless voice.

The forecast register

What unifies this text is a single stylistic instinct: remove the human agent and compress. Nobody is named as expecting, forecasting, or observing — the -ся passive (ожида́ется) and the impersonal predicatives (бу́дет о́блачно, похолода́ет) do that work. Verbs are dropped wherever the meaning survives without them (места́ми дождь; ве́тер се́верный). Numbers and degrees come pre-packaged in the genitive. The result is the neutral, authoritative, faintly official tone every Russian recognizes instantly from radio, TV, and weather apps. It's a formal written register — you wouldn't talk to a friend like this — but it's worth mastering both to understand forecasts and as a clean model of impersonal grammar.

Vocabulary gloss

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Forecasts run on the -ся passive: ожида́ется / прогнози́руется / наблюда́ется + the weather event as subject (agreeing in number: ожида́ется дождь, ожида́ются оса́дки).
• Weather states are impersonal predicatives with no subject — бу́дет о́блачно / со́лнечно / хо́лодно; the future comes from бу́дет, and impersonal verbs (похолода́ет, темне́ет) take no subject either.
• Temperatures live in the genitive: numerals force гра́дусов (gen. pl.), the range от … до … takes the genitive (от трёх до семи́), and тепла́ vs моро́за marks above vs below zero.
• The register drops verbs and agents for compression (места́ми дождь; ве́тер се́верный) — recognize this telegraphic style and supply the missing "is".
• Time and direction phrases recur: днём / но́чью (instrumental of time), к утру́ (к + dative, approaching time), на доро́гах (на + prepositional, location).