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Category Archives: Seasons
What are the “dog days of summer”?
The term “dog days of summer” refers to a time of hot and humid weather in the Northern Hemisphere, usually in July and early August.
The phrase is not a reference to lazy dogs lying around on hot and humid days. It refers to the stars in the sky. Continue reading
What is the heat index?
The heat index indicates how hot it feels. It is expressed as a function of air temperature and the relative humidity.
The heat index temperature is for standing in the shade and light winds; when exposed to direct sunlight, the heat index value can be increased by up to 15 degrees F. Continue reading
Winter in July?
On more than one occasion in this column we have commented on the areal extent of air colder than 23 degrees about 1 mile above the ground as a measure of the extremity of winter.
In the middle of January, about 68 million square kilometers of the Northern Hemisphere are covered by air that cold at that level. Between about July 5 and July 20 that area shrinks to zero, and the complete absence of such air lasts only a very few days. Continue reading
What is the heat index?
The heat index indicates how hot it feels.
It is expressed as a function of air temperature and the relative humidity. The heat index temperature is for standing in the shade and light winds; when exposed to direct sunlight, the heat index value can be increased by up to 15 degrees. Continue reading
Does the sunset last longer around the summer solstice?
Yes. The summer solstice — in Latin, “sol,” or “sun,” and “stice,” or “come to a stop” — is the day of the year with the most daylight.
The first day of the astronomical Northern Hemisphere summer is the day of the year when the sun is farthest north. In 2020, this occurred at 4:44 p.m. Saturday. Continue reading
