Dog Days of August

[Beyond]

Used to be the way the weather was, we would have what is called the dog days of august, when it got hot and there was little to no air movement.
Seeing as how it is once again august, and we may be having some dog days.... I figured a lively song by Three Dog Night might cheer up august a little bit, even if there turns out to be no dog days.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[orin stepanek]

When it's 102 F. outside my dog is smart. She stays inside except to do her stuff. She does like rides in air conditioned cars! She does follow me outside but is always ready to go back in.

[rstevenson]

Seeing as how it is once again august, and we may be having some dog days.... I figured a lively song by Three Dog Night might cheer up august a little bit, even if there turns out to be no dog days.

I'd always heard that a "three dog night" was a cold night, one so cold you had to curl up with three of your sled dogs to ensure you'd wake up in the morning. Not something I'd want to do in summer in Arizona -- or even here in Nova Scotia -- unless the air conditioning was turned up too high.

Rob

[rstevenson]

Seeing as how it is once again august, and we may be having some dog days.... I figured a lively song by Three Dog Night might cheer up august a little bit, even if there turns out to be no dog days.

I'd always heard that a "three dog night" was a cold night, one so cold you had to curl up with three of your sled dogs to ensure you'd wake up in the morning. Not something I'd want to do in summer in Oklahoma -- or even here in Nova Scotia -- unless the air conditioning was turned up too high.

Rob

[rstevenson]

Hey, how'd I do that?

Hey, how'd I do that?

Rob

Rob

[bystander]

Hey, how'd I do that?

Hey, how'd I do that?

Rob

Rob

It happens! Before you posted this, you could have just deleted the duplicate. I still can (and these two posts) if you wish.

[bystander]

I think the Dog Days arrived early.

All 50 States See Record Highs in July
Our Amazing Planet | 2011 Aug 01

[neufer]

I think the Dog Days arrived early.

All 50 States See Record Highs in July
Our Amazing Planet | 2011 Aug 01

The Romans referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky. The term "Dog Days" was used earlier by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle's Physics, 199a2).

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. For the ancient Egyptians, Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile's flooding, so they used the star as a "watchdog" for that event. Since its rising also coincided with a time of extreme heat, the connection with hot, sultry weather was made for all time: "Dog Days bright and clear / indicate a happy year. / But when accompanied by rain, / for better times our hopes are vain." The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. These are the days of the year when rainfall is at its lowest levels. In Ancient Rome, the Dog Days extended from July 24 through August 24. In many European cultures (German, French, Italian) this period is still said to be the time of the Dog Days.

In the lectionary of the 1611 edition of the King James Bible, the Dog Days begin on July 6 and end on September 5. In John Webster's 1623 play The Duchess of Malfi, the malcontent Bosola states "blackbirds fatten best in hard weather: why not I in these dog days?"

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, Quinto raged in anger, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813.

And there is this mention of "dogdays" in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol:

• Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dogdays; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.

[Ann]

The connection between Sirius, the Dog star, and the dog days of July and August, is interesting.

Still mre ineresting, I think, is that the expression "dog days" is used to describe a generally uncomfortable time of the year for people who live relatively far from the North Pole. For us in Sweden, the expression "dog days" doesn't exist at all. However, we do talk about "rötmånaden", "the month of rot", when food may go bad if you don't take extra care to keep it as cool as possible.

But let's go back to the meaning of the month of August in various parts of the world. I distinctly remember that I once read a book about Elvis, and the author claimed that it was no wonder that Elvis died in August. According to the author, August is the worst time of the year for people who are not in good health, at least if they live in the southern parts of the United States. I believe that the author also said that August is the month that claims more lives in the United States than any other month of the year.

As you can imagine, August is not similarly scary, climate-wise, for people in Scandinavia! I'm pretty sure that the winter months are the hardest on people's health here. My father died on November 30, and my best friend's mother died on New Year's Eve. Two people I was acquainted with actually died on Christmas Eve.

So December may be our dog days, if you ask me. And you can certainly see Sirius very well in December in Scandinavia on the unforgivingly long dark nights.

Ann

[Sam]

Elvis died in August

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[orin stepanek]

Here's to dogs!

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Orca]

We've been very lucky in the Northwest. In Portland we haven't had a day above 90 all summer; only a few days above the mid 80's. Granted, we don't usually get long stretches of days that are terribly hot; usually just a week in the 90's here and there.

[bystander]

'Dog Days' of Summer End With Dog Star's Sky Return
Space.com | Joe Rao | 2011 Aug 12

[i]This sky map shows the location of Sirius, the Dog Star and brightest star in the night sky, as it appears before sunrise at 6 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2011 in mid-northern latitudes. (Credit: Starry Night Software)[/i]

---

The so-called "Dog Days" of summer in the Northern Hemisphere officially came to an end this week, when the Sirius, the bright Dog Star, returned the night sky.

Everyone talks about "Dog Days" but few may know what the expression actually means. Some might suggest it signifies hot, sultry days "not fit for a dog." (If you live in Dallas or Oklahoma City during this summer, you may probably more than agree with this particular definition.) [I do, but I disagree that they are over.] Others, meanwhile, may say it's the weather in which dogs go mad.

But the actual Dog Days, or "Canicular" days as they're known, are defined as the period from July 3 through Aug. 11 when the Dog Star, Sirius, rises in conjunction (or nearly so) with the sun. As a result, the classical Greek and Roman belief was that the combination of the brightest luminary of the day (the sun) and the brightest star of night (Sirius) were responsible for the extreme heat that is experienced during the middle of the northern summer. Other effects, according to the ancients, were droughts, plagues and madness.

A more sensible view was put forward by the astronomer Geminus around 70 B.C. He wrote: "It is generally believed that Sirius produces the heat of the Dog Days, but this is an error, for the star merely marks a season of the year when the sun’s heat is the greatest."

Dog star's night sky legacy

In ancient Egypt, the New Year began with the return of Sirius. It was, in fact, the "Nile Star" or the "Star of Isis" of the early Egyptians. Interestingly, some 5,000 years ago, this star's "heliacal rising" (appearing to rise just prior to the sun) occurred not in August, as is the case today, but rather on or around June 25.

When the ancient Egyptians saw Sirius rising just before the sun, they knew that the "Nile Days" were at hand. Its annual reappearance was a warning to people who lived along the Nile River. The star always returned just before the river rose, and so announced the coming of floodwaters, which would add to the fertility of their lands. People then opened the gates of canals that irrigated their fields.

Priests, who were the calendar keepers, sighted the first rising of the Dog Star from their temples. At the temple of Isis-Hathor at Denderah is a statue of Isis, which is located at the end of an aisle lined by tall columns. A jewel was placed in the goddess’ forehead.

The statue was oriented to the rising of Sirius, so that the light from the returning Dog Star would fall upon the gem. When the priests saw the light of the star shining upon the gem for the first time, they would march from the temple and announce the New Year. In the temple appears the inscription: "Her majesty Isis shines into the temple on New Year’s Day, and she mingles her light with that of her father Ra on the horizon."

The Dog Star returns this week

This week, just before sunrise, Sirius can again be glimpsed rising just above the southeast horizon for those living in mid-northern latitudes. At more southerly latitudes, Sirius is already conspicuous, twinkling above the horizon at dawn.

Sirius is the brightest star of the constellation Canis Major, the "Greater Dog" in Latin. According to Burnham's Celestial Handbook other names for it include "The Sparkling One" or "The Scorching One."

The star appears a brilliant white with a tinge of blue, but when the air is unsteady, or when it is low to the horizon as it is now, it seems to flicker and splinter with all the colors of the rainbow. At a distance of just 8.7 light-years, Sirius is the fifth-nearest known star. Among the naked-eye stars, it is the nearest of all, with the sole exception of Alpha Centauri.

So regardless of how hot your local weather is, or has been, this appearance of Sirius — a star we most associate with the winter season — now rising just ahead of the sun, is a subtle reminder that the hottest part of the year is now behind us and a promise that a change toward cooler weather is only weeks away.

[neufer]

We've been very lucky in the Northwest. In Portland we haven't had a day above 90 all summer; only a few days above the mid 80's. Granted, we don't usually get long stretches of days that are terribly hot; usually just a week in the 90's here and there.

[img]http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/51000/51617/contuslsta_tmo_2011201_palette.png[/img]

---

<<July 2011 brought excessively hot weather to much of the United States, stressing electric power grids, exacerbating droughts, and causing dozens of heat-related deaths. Nearly 200 million Americans already know this without a map; the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) estimates that at least that many people have been affected by the heat wave.

The map above shows land surface temperature anomalies for July 20 to 27, 2011, the height of the heat wave in much of the southern, midwestern, and eastern regions. Rather than depicting absolute temperatures, the maps shows how much the average temperature for that one week differed from the long-term average for that week for that region. Temperature measurements were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Reds indicate temperatures that were warmer than average, and blues below average. Oceans, lakes, and areas with insufficient data (usually because of persistent clouds) appear in gray.

According to preliminary data from NCDC, 2,755 daily records were set across the country for daily high temperatures, including at least one in every state. At least 78 all-time record high temperatures were set or tied at various locations around the United States. The highest temperature was 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius) on July 12 in Shamrock, Texas. By August 3, Dallas had experienced 34 consecutive days of temperatures above 100F (38C); Oklahoma City had crossed that threshold 41 times this year.

More compelling were the daily lows, with 6,171 records set for the highest minimum temperatures for July. In Ponca City, Oklahoma, the overnight low on July 26 was 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33C). The pattern of warmer nights fits with a longer trend noted in a recent NOAA report.>>

[owlice]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[bystander]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[orin stepanek]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.