re: The problem with saying the last 8 years are the hottest on record

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Nash Roberts in the 60-70 period of time used to refer to the Dog Days of August.

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I remember Nash, "You got your mins around...and your max..."

But the "Dog Days" refer to the reappearance of Canis Major, the brightest star in the night sky becoming visible in the night sky around this time of year. This is the star that follows the constellation Orion, the great hunter, like a dog - thus the name "Canis" meaning dog. The other name for Canis Major is "Sirius" which means "scorcher" in Greek. They thought this star actually made the heat.

That's why Nash referred to this time of year as the Dog Days of Summer. It has been known as such since ancient Greek times.

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a lot more accurate than the weather predictions of today

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Nash was seen as a god ever since he correctly predicted the path of Hurricane Betsy in 1965. He was the first weatherman to fly into the eye of a hurricane when he worked for Adm. Nimitz during WWII. Later, they would wheel him out after retirement to work his grease pen magic to calm the nerves of the little old ladies in New Orleans through the 80s and 90s hen storms were approaching.

As great as Nash was, it doesn't take a god to predict that August will be hot in south Louisiana, and the tools at forecasters' disposal today make the weather predictions even more accurate than Nash's.