Florence and the Machine Were Right: The Dog Days (of Summer) Are over, at Least for This Year

Florence and the Machine were right: The dog days (of summer) are over, at least for this year

The dog days of summer is an expression often used to describe the hottest weather when people don't want to do much more than nap. But the term is linked to the star Sirius, or dog star, which shined brightest this year in southern Ontario between July 3 and Aug. 11. That means the dog days are over.

U.S. news in the dog days of summer – Part 1

The dog days of summer pertain to the forty days between July 3 and Aug. 11, when the sun delivers its greatest heat and the highest levels of humidity form. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, “This period of sweltering weather coincides with the year’s heliacal (meaning ‘at sunrise’) rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Majoris—the ‘Greater Dog’—which is where Sirius gets its canine nickname, as well as its …