Summer has hit its midpoint and the summer doldrums have settled in.

Meteorologists call this time of year the “summer doldrums” for one reason and one reason only – big weather driven by the jet stream is rare. The high-atmosphere winds are usually well north in Canada and the driver of weather are weak fronts, strong summer sun and tropical cyclones.

In fact, as you look at the Weather and Radar forecast, most of the weather forecasts across the U.S. contains some variation of hot temperatures —the TemperatureRadar also shows this — and hopefully a cooling afternoon shower and thunderstorm tracked on our WeatherRadar. The hot weather can bring other dangers like drought and western wildfires though.

This will be the norm this weekend except in Florida, where a tropical system will create a bit of a wash out.

One other thing, did you know the “dog days of summer” comes from astronomy. The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, the dog star in Canis Major constellation, rises in the summer sky. Ancient Greeks thought the star was so bright that it helps keep the summer warm. The Egyptians used Sirius’s rising in the night sky to mark the beginning of the yearly flooding of the Nile.

Don’t fret, regular scheduled weather will be back in a couple of weeks. The jet stream will start to make its southern migration southward and by early September, we’ll have a first taste of refreshing cool air across the Rockies, northern Plains and Northeast and a burst of the secondary severe storm season.