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What Are The Dog Days Of Summer?

DENVER(CBS4)- We are smack dab in the Dog Days of Summer and those dogs will be barking loudly over the next several days as summer heat takes over.

On the weather map we still have a big ridge of high pressure sitting over the central Rockies. At the same time there is a trough of low pressure moving into the Pacific northwest. This will keep a west/southwest flow going over the state bringing in heat and enough moisture for thunderstorms.

thermometer
(Photo Credit: Thinkstock)

The high will shift eastward as the week goes on. This will open the door for dry and hot desert air to flow into the region from mid-week through Friday. In fact, by the time the Front Range makes it to Thursday and Friday highs may approach near 100 degrees! With temps that hot we may be able to tie or break the record high temperatures. Thursday's record high is 99 degrees and Friday's record is 101.

By the way, the term Dog Days of Summer refers to the period of time that runs from July 3rd to August 11th. Oddly enough the stretch is called "Dog Days" because that is the period in which the dog-star Sirius rises and sets with the sun. Ancient Romans believed this added heat to the sun during this period of the summer. Sirius is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major which means a large dog. Hence the "Dog Star".

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