Air conditioners are a hot commodity in Nashville as the summer heat wanes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After June temperatures began reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit, Alexandra Mistekevic’s two-bedroom apartment in Nashville, Tennessee, became so stifling that the air conditioning unit could only cool the shared living and kitchen areas.

Her 8 year old son couldn’t even sleep or play in the room, it was too hot.

“My oldest son wants to go to his room and he can’t because I’m afraid he’ll get overheated,” said the mother of two.

This week, Nashville and Memphis were under heat warnings as temperatures reached 90 degrees and the heat index in both cities surpassed 37.8 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. Refrigeration centers were opened in both cities, while Nashville Office of Homeless Services and other community service organizations performed heat checks and offered rides to shelters and cooling centers.

Mistekevic found relief through Nashville Metropolitan Action Commissionwhich offers free window air conditioning units to seniors, families with young children, and people with heat-affected health conditions.

On Tuesday, when the daily temperature reached 98 degrees F (36.7 C), Mistekevic filled out an application and later the same day was able to purchase an 8,000 BTU window unit for her oldest son’s bedroom.

Now she can rest better knowing he has a place to sleep and play with his toys, especially since the summer was starting to get hot.

“I sweated more this summer than I would say any previous summer,” Mistekevic said. “Like this summer, I feel like it’s going to be really, really bad.”

Temperatures in Nashville and Memphis are expected to rise again Friday into the mid-90s, with more days of intense heat forecast for the following week.

Marvin Cox, the community outreach director who runs the air conditioning program, said the air conditioning units that sit on his office shelves are a hot commodity this time of year. They distributed over 200 units last summer and this summer they are sending them out as soon as they get new units because time is of the essence to prevent heat-related illnesses.

Cox said he’s been hearing from people who sign up that their whole-home air conditioning units aren’t keeping up with consecutive days of high temperatures and humidity.

“We know it’s been very hot, 96, 97 degrees here in Nashville. Probably one of the hottest Junes I feel like I’ve ever been a part of,” Cox said.

Last year, the US experienced the most heat waves since 1936, experts said. One AP Analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that excessive heat contributed to more than 2,300 deaths, the most in 45 years of records.

The program does not receive subsidies, so AC units are typically purchased by the agency or rely on donations of new AC units or monetary donations.

“We just want to be a blessing to families, especially seniors and families with young children,” Cox said. “We know it gets hot. Your physical well-being is very important to us. So we want to make sure we can serve as many families as possible.”