'Dead' heat across the country is raising cooling costs

By John Roach, AccuWeather staff writer

Updated Oct. 4, 2019 4:59 PM

The Walking Dead and the show’s shuffling zombies return for Season 10 on Sunday, as fans long awaiting its return already know. It would be understandable, however, if residents of Georgia, where the show is recorded, felt like the walking dead all summer, scuffling along in the unrelenting southern heat. 

On Friday Oct. 4, Atlanta broke the city’s record for most 90-degree days in one year with its 91^st day. The old record of 90 was first set in 1980 and then equaled in 2011, based on records going back to 1930. 

This week was particularly brutal throughout the country as more than 30 cities set new all-time daily high temperatures for the month of October. Birmingham even reached 103 F on Wednesday, which was the hottest day of the year for the city. Birmingham’s daily high temperature hasn’t been below 88 degrees since August 29 and it has had 106 days of daily high temperatures of at least 90 F. The city’s record is 110, set in 1925. 

The heat and high temperatures have raised significantly the estimated cooling costs in a number of major U.S. cities, according to an AccuWeather analysis. 

Atlanta (39.5% higher), Cincinnati (35.7%), Boston (35.2%), Norfolk, Virginia (33.8%) and Washington, D.C. (32.4%) have experienced substantially higher estimated cooling costs compared to normal for the period from May 1 through October 3. 

Other cities with higher-than-normal temperatures and the resulting higher estimated costs for cooling include Indianapolis (28.5%), Birmingham (28.1%) and Philadelphia (24.5%). 

“A roller-coaster-like jet stream pattern across the country is to blame for the summerlike heat across a wide swath of the eastern United States,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. 

The extended hot spell across the southern United States is forecasted to break as more seasonable October weather moves in next week, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.

The cooling season, which typically begins May 1, can last until late in the year in many U.S. cities The costs of cooling, including electricity, vary from year to year and from place to place, so the percentage change in your bill may vary from these percentages. 

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