Learn Russian: Климат там плохой: зимой минус тридцать, а летом плюс тридцать. - The climate there is bad: in winter it is minus thirty, and in summer plus thirty.

Климат там плохой: зимой минус тридцать, а летом плюс тридцать.

The climate there is bad: in winter it is minus thirty, and in summer plus thirty.

Breakdown of Климат там плохой: зимой минус тридцать, а летом плюс тридцать.

Questions & Answers about Климат там плохой: зимой минус тридцать, а летом плюс тридцать.

The lesson is about using было and будет for impersonal expressions. How would we say 'in winter it WAS minus thirty'?

You would just add the neuter past tense word было. The phrase becomes зимой было минус тридцать. In the present tense, as shown in this sentence, the 'it is' is simply omitted.

Why do we use зимой and летом instead of the standard words зима and лето?

The dictionary forms зима and лето just mean 'winter' and 'summer' as subjects. Putting them in the Instrumental case turns them into the time expressions 'in the winter' (зимой) and 'in the summer' (летом).

Why use the conjunction а here instead of и?

The word а is used for contrast, often translating to 'whereas' or 'while'. Since the sentence contrasts the freezing cold of winter with the intense heat of summer, а is the natural choice over the simple addition of и.

Where is the verb in the first half of the sentence, Климат там плохой?

There is no verb! In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' is almost always left out. The phrase literally translates to 'Climate there bad', which is understood as 'The climate there is bad'.