I'm sure the folks out at the beach don't agree with me, and the people on vacation who were hoping for a lot of sun are disappointed, but I have never liked the 95+ temperatures we sometimes get around here in the "dog days of summer."

Technically speaking, the dog days of summer are over. The term "dog days" goes back to the Greeks and Romans - when Sirius, the "dog star," is the brightest star in the the sky, other than the sun.

A search on wikipedia says:

Popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" - Brady's Clavis Calendarium, 1813.

People believed that Sirius was actually responsible for the hot and steamy weather. And since, at that time, the dog star rose around the same time as the sun, to them it made sense. Of course, we now know that Sirius is so far off, it can't affect the heat of our planet, but we still use the term.

According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, the traditional Dog Days are a stretch of 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11. So, I guess the dog days are dog gone, this year.

But never fear faithful sun worshipers. This is Hampton Roads - and we all know the weather will change. And I am sure the sun, and the heat, will return soon enough.