This publication explores the history of observing changes in weather of St. Petersburg from the foundation of the city to present times. One thing that should be considered is the irregularity of obtaining data on changes in climate, urban landscape, flora and fauna, as well as land use within the city limits. The material was prepared in its historical context. It allows not only to trace the dynamics of weather and natural phenomena, but also makes it possible to understand the logic of our ancestors who carried out spatial socialization within the current locality of St. Petersburg. The city on the Neva river is the world's largest city located 800 kilometers away from the Arctic Circle. It is argued that changes in microclimate, landscape, flora and fauna, as well as land use played an important role in the process of urbanization, agricultural experiments, bold attempts to resist natural disasters and, in first of all, floods in the city. In the modern competition between the pragmatics of urbanization and humanism of nature management, the first of these two components, sadly, prevails noticeably, causing damage to the physical and moral state of Petersburgers.