I always assumed the “dog days of summer” meant days so hot that even dogs didn’t want to go outside.
It turns out the phrase has nothing to do with dogs or hot summer days.
The ancient Greeks noticed that the summer’s most intense heat occurred during the 40 days when Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, rose and set with the sun. The daytime addition of the warmth of Sirius – Greek for “glowing” or “scorcher” – to the blaze of the sun equaled extreme heat.
To them it was simple math. To me, it is simply hot.
Stay cool.
– Abbie S. Fink, HMA Public Relations