Life In The Waning Dog Days

Sirius, the Dog Star, is actually a double star.

These are the waning "dog days" of summer. Western civilization has associated this time with the rising of the constellation, Canis Major - the Great Dog - and its star, Sirius - the Dog Star. Historically, the end of the dog days means that the warmest days of summer are behind us.  This year could be different as our summer in Atlanta has been wonderfully mild. Regardless, the signals of the changing season are all around us. The sun casts ever longer shadows as it arcs lower across the southern sky. Leaves hang limp on trees catching more and more of that light, giving the woods a golden hue even at midday. Many of the birds no longer have their mating season plumage. The gardens, though still producing, have become more ragged and devoted to seed production. The aging summer has also brought this year's acorn crop to maturity. Our squirrel community took notice of the potential harvest about a week ago.  

There is more going on overhead than rising stars, constellations, and falling acorns. This is the time for towering popcorn thunderstorms. The calm winds and high temperatures have them soaring by noon and meandering across the region dying out as fast as they are born. These small storms bring powerful lightning - the positive strikes that start fires - inches of rainfall, high wind, and pea sized hail. In all, they are a big punch over such a small footprint compared to the supercell storms on the Great Plains.

The dog days will stay with us for a week or two, then yield to more comfortable temperatures, moderated even more by occasional easterly waves bringing showers and salt air off the Atlantic. The sound sequence of crickets to cicadas to katydids will come earlier and earlier each evening under the direction of the setting sun.  If it wasn't for the seemingly endless fall to follow, I could get upset that most of this summer has passed.  But why think of that? Let the summer flow.