We refer to the hottest, most humid stretch of summer (typically from early July through mid-August in the Northern Hemisphere) as the “Dog Days of Summer.” But the phrase has nothing to do with lazy dogs lying in the shade—although they certainly do plenty of that here on the island!
The expression dates back more than 2,000 years to the ancient Greeks and Romans. They noticed that the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, rose in the eastern sky just before sunrise during the hottest part of the summer. Sirius is known as the “Dog Star” because it is part of the constellation Canis Major (Greater Dog).
The Romans believed the combined heat of the sun and Sirius caused the sweltering weather, drought, fever, and general misery of late summer. They called this period the dies caniculares, or “days of the dog star,” which eventually became the “Dog Days of Summer.”
Today, we know Sirius has no effect on Earth’s temperature. It’s only because of Earth’s orbit around the sun that it happens to appear in the sky during that time. Despite the science, the expression is still used to refer to these hot and sticky summer days.
For those of us on St. Simons Island, the Dog Days of Summer mean:
- Morning walks before the heat takes over.
- Evening beach strolls after 6 p.m. with the dogs (thanks to the summer beach rules).
- Sand that’s too hot for bare feet by lunchtime.
- Cold drinks taste better.
- And somehow, a walk at Gould’s Inlet still feels cooler than anywhere else!
