Continuing this year’s trend to talk about and welcome each month — today’s topic is…..July!
Tomorrow, July 2nd, is the exact middle of the year — of course, that’s true every year, so you can be sorry, or relieved, that the year is half over. And, if your New Year’s resolutions you made back in January haven’t panned out, tomorrow is a good day to try again.
The month of July is named after Roman leader Julius Caesar. Before the month became July, it was known as Quintiles. Quintiles is the Latin word for five — it was the fifth month on the Gregorian calendar. Actually, Julius Caesar modified the calendar, adding the months of January and February and the Julian calendar is still in use today.
July (in the northern hemisphere) is usually the hottest month of the year. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States was in Greenland Ranch, California — 134ªF on July 10th, 1913.
Over the years, a lot of notable “firsts” have occurred in July — like the first atomic bomb being detonated (in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945) and the first rabies vaccine being administered (by Louis Pasteur) on July 6th, 1885. And of course I should mention that the first bikini debuted in Paris on July 5th, 1946. But — arguably — the most exciting July event took place in 1969 when Neil Armstrong was the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20th.
On the down side, 7 US Presidents have passed away in July — the most of any month.
July’s full Moon — the Full Buck Moon — will make its appearance in a couple of nights, on July 3.
Aphelion — when the Earth is farthest it will get from the Sun for the entire year — occurs on July 6th. On that date, the Earth will be 94,506,364 miles away from the Sun.
And according to superstition, if ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard. So we can look forward to Canada Day, Independence Day, Bastille Day, International Town Criers Day, World Emoji Day and the start of the Dog Days of Summer…. welcome, July.
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