Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, St. Louis is the second largest city in Missouri. It is composed of  Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren counties in Missouri and Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, St. Clair, and Washington counties in Illinois. Over the years St Louis has undergone several significant stages of development, which parallel the nation's westward expansion, symbolized by the city's famous Gateway Arch. It has a rich history of art and culture. It is one of the first cities to confront defense cutbacks in the 1990s and develop plans for dealing with them. Today, it has emerged as a national laboratory for the post-Cold-War economy.
The climate of St Louis is characterized by four distinct seasons without prolonged periods of extreme heat or high humidity. It experiences a variety of weather conditions because of alternate invasions of moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cold air masses from Canada. Winters are rarely severe with annual snowfall averaging about eighteen inches. Severe storms are often accompanied by hail and damaging winds, and tornadoes have caused destruction and loss of life.

Area: 62 square miles (2000)

Elevation: 535 feet above sea level

Latitude: 38.63 N

Longitude: 90.24 W

Average Temperatures: January, 29.5° F; July, 80.5° F; annual average, 55.4° F

Average Annual Precipitation: 46.06 inches of rain; 23.5 inches of snow

Population: 344,362 as on 2005

Local festivals :

• Constitution Day
• Greater Saint Louis Hispanic Festival
• St. Louis Hispanic Festivals
• Japanese festival

Attractions:

• Gateway Arch
• Missouri Botanical Garden
• St. Louis Zoo, Sachs Butterfly House
• Missouri History Museum
• Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site
• Museum of Westward Expansion
• Scott Joplin House State Historic Site
• City Museum.