AC quit in a Buffalo heat wave

The first ten minutes

1. Thermostat in cool mode, set a few degrees below what the room reads.
2. Panel breakers for the furnace and the condenser, then the disconnect on the wall outside. One reset per breaker, no more.
3. The on-off switch by the furnace. No blower, no cold air at the registers.
4. The filter. Swap it if it is caked.
5. Frost on the copper? Set the thermostat to off with the fan running until it thaws. Running it iced up can wreck the compressor.

Watching the people

Inside a Buffalo house, particularly an upper flat or a finished attic room, it can get much hotter than the number the airport reports. The National Weather Service describes the two conditions to watch for:

• Heat exhaustion: heavy sweating; skin that is cold, pale and clammy; a quick, weak pulse; nausea, fatigue, dizziness, headache or fainting. Get to a cooler spot, loosen clothes, take small sips of water.
• Heat stroke: body temperature at 103°F or above; hot, red skin; a quick, strong pulse; confusion or passing out. This is an emergency. Call 911.

The CDC warns that an electric fan may not be enough to prevent heat illness once it gets very hot. Spend the worst hours somewhere cooled: a branch library, a mall, a cooling center, a relative's house.

Erie County cooling centers

When a heat advisory goes out, Erie County and individual towns open cooling centers, and the list changes from one hot spell to the next. Dial 2-1-1 or look on the county's website for the current locations, and phone ahead because hours shift.

HEAP help with cooling

Erie County offers a HEAP Cooling Assistance Benefit for eligible households. The county page (updated September 28, 2026) says:

• You need documentation of a medical condition that extreme heat makes worse, unless someone in the household is older than 60 or younger than 6.
• Gross monthly household income has to fall within the 2026 to 2027 HEAP guidelines; the county gives $3,563 for a household of one and $4,659 for two as examples.
• The program is expected to open April 15, 2027.
• The HEAP hotline, (716) 858-7644, answers weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Average days at 85°F or hotter, by month

How often it gets this hot

From 2016-2025, the airport averaged 26.6 days a year at or above 85°F, concentrated in July and August. This year's peak so far was 90°F on June 30, 2026. Every year in the record.