If you pull up the National Weather Service forecast web page for the Boise area on Friday, you are greeted by five identical pictures of the sun, with one word underneath each one. Hot.

That’s the Boise forecast for the next five days. No cloud cover. No rain. High temperatures that don’t dip below 90 degrees. Hot and clear. Low temps in the morning only dipping into the high 60s’.

It’s a Boise July.

Friday and Saturday’s estimated high temperature for Boise is 97 degrees. It could break triple digits Sunday, with an estimated high of 102. The estimated highs for the four days after that are 90, 93, 94, and 94.

None of those temperatures are close to record setting heat. They are just typically hot summer days here in the southwest Idaho desert.

That being said, just what are the “dog days of summer” anyway? Aren’t most dogs avoiding the hot sun and sleeping in the shade somewhere?

This is how the Encyclopedia Britannica website explains the history of the “dog days” cliche.

“Dog days (are) periods of exceptionally hot and humid weather that often occur in July, August, and early September in the northern temperate latitudes. The name originated with the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians; they believed that Sirius, the dog star, which rises simultaneously with the Sun during this time of the year, added its heat to the Sun’s and thereby caused the hot weather. Their belief that dogs were subject to spells of madness at this time also may have contributed to the name.”

So there you have it. Dog days.