Skip to content
EntityQ1065821· pop 37· linked from 42 articles

Also known as dog days of summer

hottest part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere

~15 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Etymology

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “dog days” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.