Dog days...

The headline of the big weather article in today's Democrat & Chronicle is "Dog days of July return today with scorching heat." The article gives a good account not only of the heat we will be dealing with, but where the phrase "dog days" comes from and some historical weather information for Rochester. (Pictured on the left is the jackel or dog headed Egyptian god Anubis. He later became associated with Sirius, the brightest star in the heavens and part of the "dog" constellation, Canis Major.)
We have lots more of this sort of thing if you are interested. There's many books in our catalog on meteorology and weather folklore, as well as on mythology and astronomy. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website has both current weather information and a vast wealth of historical records. For articles on meteorology try Academic Search and ScienceDirect, as well as our Earth Science research guide.