4 days ago
Florence and the Machine were right: The dog days (of summer) are over, at least for this year
It's official: The dog days of summer are over.
At least, astronomically speaking.
"This term the dog days of summer goes back all the way to actually past ancient Greece, even into ancient Egypt and all of it is in reference to a star that's the brightest star in our system called Sirius, which is the dog star," says Orbax, a science communicator with the University of Guelph and who is one part of the science entertainment duo Orbax and Pepper Do Science.
Sirius, known as the dog star, was brightest between July 3 to Aug. 11 when viewed in southern Ontario, the U.S. National Weather Service says on its website, "which is 20 days prior and 20 days after the star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction with the sun."
But the saying has also been linked to the hottest days, and Orbax says that has led to lore about the star and the weather.
"It's one of these stars that actually consistently rises and sets at the same times every year. So when it would come up early in the morning, ancient civilizations would link this idea to almost like having an extra sun," Orbax said.
He added that it was also that time in August where grass and foliage might be dying in the heat, "and we'd all feel pretty beat down because my understanding is that in ancient Greece, there was a pretty severe lack of air conditioning."
Downward trend to the cold days of winter
Turns out, the dog days of summer are also waning weather–wise.
Steven Flisfeder, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, says "unofficially you can think of the dog days of summer as the absolute peak in terms of temperatures, so when we're, climatologically speaking, expected to be the absolute hottest before we start our gradual decline in toward the fall," he said.
He says the weather often lines up with Sirius being bright in the sky with the hottest days in late July and early August.
So now, how do the dog days stand as of Aug. 15?
"Climatologically speaking, every day is going to be different, but in general it is a downward trend from here on out," Flisfeder said.
As well, meteorological summer is getting set to wrap up at the end of the month.
"The meteorological seasons always start on the first day of their respective month. So for summer, it starts June 1, for fall, it starts September 1. And the very basic reason for that is that it's statistically convenient," he said.
But even if summer is coming to a close, Flisfeder notes it doesn't mean sweater weather begins on Monday, Sept. 1.
"We can still have warm temperatures toward the end of summer even into the early parts of fall. We've had heat events through to the end of September," he said.
