When hearing about the “Dog Days” of summer, I always imagined a dog lying in the shade under the front porch in the summer heat with his tongue hanging out.
The name actually has to do with the dog star Sirius. It is the brightest star in the sky and is in the constellation Canis Major (the big dog). During late July, Sirius is in conjunction with the sun (right next to it, or even behind it). The ancient Romans believed that it added more heat to the sun’s rays during the time period 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction, and named this period the “Dog Days”.
Here is an explanation from a web site by a man named Jerry Wilson:
http://www.wilstar.com/dogdays.htm
Read about the forecast in the entry below.
