AUBURN — With a heat wave that isn’t expected to break until Sunday and the temperature a torrid 97, Mary Hurd of Sabattus had had enough Friday morning.

“I’m buying a Frigidaire 12,000-BTU air conditioner. I’m sweltering at my house,” she said as the appliance was loaded into her pickup.

Until Friday Hurd said her household got by without air conditioning. “But this is extreme. Last night was the worst.”

She had lots of company.

On day two of a blistering heat wave, air conditioners were hard to find. Shopping for the lowest price went out the window; more important was finding one at all.

“I started at Walmart, BJ’s, Home Depot and Lowe’s,” Nichole Dutil of Turner said. Those stores had sold out.

So had Aubuchon Hardware in Lewiston and Petro’s Ace Hardware in Auburn. “We sold the last one Thursday,” John Petrocelli of Petro’s said.

As of 11 a.m. Friday, Agren Appliance had sold all but six. “When I got here this morning we had 78,” General Manager Doug Bartlett said. “They’re looking for a good night’s sleep.”

Air conditioner sales resembled Christmas shopping on Black Friday, minus the deep discounts. “Normally we open at 8 a.m,” Bartlett said. “We opened at 7:30. The parking lot was full.”

Dutil was at Agren’s “buying the biggest air conditioner they have, a 12,000 BTU.” The cost was $549. “I’ve been corresponding with my husband, who’s very frugal,” she said. “He said, ‘Just buy it.’”

They have an air conditioner in their bedroom, but Thursday night it wasn’t keeping the oversized room cool. Their children’s bedroom didn’t have air, something she was remedying.

“They were up two or three times last night, even with a fan,” Dutil said. She got up with her children through the night making sure they had cold water and ice packs.

Early reports from health professionals indicated that large numbers weren’t seeking treatment for heat-related illnesses.

Peggy McRae, nurse manager at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, said the emergency room was seeing some patients because of the weather, “but not huge numbers. It has had an impact on the overall volume. Some are a little dehydrated.”

Dr. Stephen Sears, state epidemiologist with the Maine Center for Disease Control, said often heat sickness lags a few days. “The longer it goes on, the more potential for danger,” Sears said.

When the heat index reaches 95 “we get concerned,” he said. The heat index uses air temperature and relative humidity to estimate perceived temperature.

Two-thirds of Maine, all but the northern tip, had a heat index of 95 or higher Friday. In Portland the heat index reached 105 Friday, and was 100 in Lewiston.

For the second day the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning Friday for “dangerously hot temperatures.”

The biggest worry, Sears said, is for the young and old who don’t cool down, and those who do not refrain from strenuous activities.

Their symptoms are “more than feeling hot. It’s losing sensations, difficulty thinking and dizziness.” The remedy is to get where it’s cooler, where there’s air conditioning, and drink fluids, Sears said.

The heat broke a record in Portland Friday, said meteorologist Eric Sinsabaugh with the National Weather Service in Gray.

Portland reached 100 degrees, smashing the old record of 94 for July 22 in 1994. Lewiston’s 97 was slightly cooler.

The dew point, or how much moisture is in the air, was starting to come down Friday, Sinsabaugh said. But winds carrying warmer air had picked up. The winds came from the northwest off the mountains, he said. If the winds came off the water, they would be cooling, Sinsabaugh said. “This is why we’re seeing a lot of extreme temperatures.”

On Saturday the heat will continue. It will start to change Saturday night and Sunday, when the temperature will be in the low 80s.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com