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Dog days. The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the "Dog Star"), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck.
- Overview
- The hottest days?
These punishingly hot summer days get their name from an ancient belief about the brightest star in the sky—not from dogs’ tendency to laze around in the heat.
For many, the “dog days,” evoke those summer days that are so devastatingly hot that even dogs would lie around on the asphalt, panting. But originally, the phrase had nothing to do with dogs, or even with the lazy days of summer. Instead, the dog days refer to Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, which means “big dog” in Latin and is said to represent one of Orion’s hunting dogs.
To the Greeks and Romans, the “dog days” occurred around the time Sirius appears to rise alongside the sun, in late July in the Northern Hemisphere. They believed the heat from the two stars combined is what made these days the hottest of the year, a period that could bring fever or even catastrophe. In 2021, the dog days span from July 3 to August 11. (Check out this family guide to stargazing during the dog days of summer.)
“If you go back even as far as Homer, The Iliad, it’s referring to Sirius as Orion’s dog rising, and it describes the star as being associated with war and disaster,” said Jay B. Holberg, author of Sirius: Brightest Diamond in the Night Sky and senior research scientist at the University of Arizona Lunar & Planetary Laboratory. “All throughout Greek and Roman literature, you found these things.”
The phrase “dog days” was translated from Latin to English about 500 years ago. Since then, it has taken on new meanings.
“Now people come up with other explanations for why they’re called the ‘dog days’ of summer, [like] this is when dogs can go crazy,” said Anne Curzan, an English professor at the University of Michigan.
So, did the Greeks get it right? Are the dog days, around when Sirius rises, really the hottest days of the year?
In a word: no.
Although July and August are often the hottest months of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the hottest period can vary from year to year. And depending on your latitude, the astronomical dog days can come at different times.
In Athens, for instance, Sirius will rise around the middle of August this year. But farther south, it’ll happen earlier in the year; farther north, it’ll happen later.
There’s another reason that the dog days don’t correspond neatly with the heat: The stars in Earth’s night sky shift independently of our calendar seasons.
“Our Earth is like a spinning top,” said Bradley Schaefer, professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University. “If you toss it onto a table, after it slows down … the pointing direction of the top will slowly go around in circles.” Similarly to a top, “Earth’s rotation is kind of wobbling around.”
- Becky Little
- 3 min
Jun 28, 2024 · The term “ Dog Days ” traditionally refers to a period of particularly hot and humid weather occurring during the summer months of July and August in the Northern Hemisphere. Dog Days bright and clear. Indicate a happy year; But when accompanied by rain, For better times, our hopes are vain. Read Next.
dog days, periods of exceptionally hot and humid weather that often occur in July, August, and early September in the northern temperate latitudes.The name originated with the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians; they believed that Sirius, the dog star, which rises simultaneously with the Sun during this time of the year, added its heat to the Sun’s and thereby caused the hot weather.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jul 6, 2015 · The exact dates of the dog days depend on your latitude, but by today’s estimation they begin on July 3 and come to a close on August 11. Humans have been griping about the weather as far back as written history reaches, and the dog days were an important time for all. The Ancient Greeks and Romans, in particular, had grim feelings for Sirius ...
Jul 4, 2024 · The dog days of summer fall between July 3 to August 11, and that’s when we have our warmest days in the Northern Hemisphere. So even though we know why this is the hottest time of the year in ...
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Aug 24, 2022 · What are the Dog Days of Summer? August 24, 2022. Duane Friend. As we move through August, some folks will reference it as being the “dog days.”. What are they talking about? We associate these “dog days” with hot weather. But it does not refer to living dogs being uncomfortable in the heat. Instead, the term is associated with a bright ...
