from the Port Isabel-Padre Island Press
Dog Days of Summer
by Dina Arevalo, Editor
If you’ve
been outside
during the daytime
at all this
past week, then
you’ll have realized
we are well
and truly into
the dog days of
summer. There’s
only one word
one can use to
describe the
weather: hot.
Actually, I can think of
a few others: sweltering,
scorching, brutal, hellish,
relentless, unpleasant
and humid. We’ve
seen record temperatures
all across the Rio Grande
Valley, and even here
along the coast, where
things tend to stay a few
degrees cooler thanks to
that gulf breeze, heat indices
have risen into the
triple digits. Even if the
mercury says it’s only in
the upper 80s or lower
90s in Port Isabel or on
South Padre Island, it
feels a lot more like 100-
105 degrees.
Like I said, it’s hot.
Very hot.
Even once the sun goes
down, the heat lingers,
the air simmering like a
wet blanket pulled out of
the dryer too soon.
And making things
worse has been the Saharan
dust that’s blown
across the Atlantic and
settled over our skies
over the past couple of
weeks. I was out at the
beach at dawn last week
and the dust was so thick,
especially along the horizon,
that the rising sun
was nothing more than
a dull yellow-grey disc
floating above the waves.
Instead of rays of golden
light glittering off the
wave caps like millions
of sparkling sequins,
the early morning light
was feeble and wan, the
waves crashing ashore almost
looked brown in the
muddy light.
I’m not sure
how much longer
this heat
will last, but
I hope things
cool down
soon. Meanwhile,
it’ll be
the dog days of
summer — or
La Canicula
as many folks
here in the Valley refer
to it — for a couple more
weeks yet.
Most everyone knows
that the dog days of summer
is that period of time
in late summer when the
days seem to be the hottest,
but what people may
not be aware of is that
this time period has little
to do with man’s best
friend.
According to The Farmer’s
Almanac, the dog
days weren’t named for
our favorite four-legged
companions, they were
actually named after the
stars. It’s during the dog
days that the star Sirius
and the constellation Canus
Major rise above the
horizon at the same time
as the sun. For the United
States, that means that
this year’s “dog days”
run from about July 3
– Aug. 11.
Ancient Egyptians noticed
that the Nile River’s
annual floods tended
to take place around this
time of year. Meanwhile,
the Romans believed that
Sirius — rising and setting
at the same time as
the sun during this time
of the year — lent its
heat to the sun, which
was why the dog days
were so hot.
Even though I know
there isn’t a grain of truth
to that second theory,
it’s easy to see why the
Romans thought so. Because,
in case I haven’t
mentioned it enough
times already: it’s hot.
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