Spring brings 80-degree weather to Central Coast

In-home air conditioning is a known luxury on the Monterey Peninsula.

“There are some days in the summer where I really do wish we had AC,” said home owner, Sergio Bravo.

“There’s usually a week out of the year that we need it,” said home owner, Andrea Stevenson.

Many residents admitted the cool ocean breeze used to be enough to get them through a few warm days, but every year the high temperatures seem to arrive sooner. What once seemed unnecessary, is now being installed in homes all over the peninsula. “W e didn’t sell air-conditioning at all, 10 years ago, in this area. Now, I’d say 75% of our job is heating and air conditioning,” said owner of R&S Heating and Sheet Metal, Richard Russo.

Russo said the number of residents wanting to install air conditioning units has skyrocketed since 2017. He said this is when temperatures got into the 100s over Labor Day weekend. “We ended up selling, I think, 30 air conditioners in the month of September. We sold them from September all the way through February, that year. Ever since then, we’ve been selling them more and more,” said Russo.

Thursday, some inland areas, like Carmel Valley, saw temperatures in the 80s. Russo said this warmer weather may lead residents to get the most use out of their AC unit, but ultimately it comes down to tolerance. “C armel Valley is going to be warmer than Pacific Grove, so it sells itself out there. Mostly, it’s comfort level. Some can put up with it and some can’t,” said Russo.

Some have already started thinking about how they will handle the summer heat. “We come to the beach to enjoy it. It’s the only way to really enjoy the weather, because if you’re in your house you’re just going to get too uncomfortable and hot,” said Bravo.