Sure, we're no Houston or Miami when it comes to broiling, muggy weather. And it's rare for this area to see 90 degrees.

But with bodies better calibrated to cope with 35 degrees than 85 degrees, July's run of hot, humid days drove many Western New Yorkers to the lake, under a shade tree or anywhere else they could cool off.

Many more sought the artificial comfort of air conditioning, sending electricity use -- and electric bills -- soaring in homes, offices and other buildings across the region.

"You want to be cool, you're going to be cool. You don't think how much it's going to cost you down the road," said Brian McLaughlin, who saw the electric bill for his family's three-bedroom ranch house in Hamburg rise from $77.01 in June to $122.20 in July.

The state set a record for electricity demand last month, and National Grid saw the highest-ever use in its Upstate New York coverage area three days in a row during July.

Everyone from homeowners to managers of some of downtown Buffalo's largest buildings say electricity use rose as they struggled to keep cool in the monthlong heat wave.

The midsummer steam bath hasn't been bad news for everyone. The companies that install and repair air conditioners say July was a banner month for them after a cool July 2009.

"There's a direct correlation between people not being able to sleep and service calls," said Lou Lalli, general manager of Adema Heating and Air Conditioning. "Heat sells."

Last month was tropical, especially compared with last July.

In a typical July, the temperature in Buffalo reaches at least 80 degrees on about 18 days in the month, according to the National Weather Service.

During cooler-than-normal July 2009, Buffalo had just two days the entire month where the temperature reached 80.

This year, we rebounded with 24 days of 80-degree readings that were perfect for trips to the beach, dips in the pool and other heat-beating measures.

When it gets this hot, and it stays warm and sticky at night, that's when people turn to air conditioning for relief.

Lalli said business really picked up after the Fourth of July, with a mix of calls for new central-air units and repairs to existing units.

Air conditioning is a "totally reactionary" purchase, and a lot of people in Buffalo still think of it as unnecessary, Lalli said. But a lot of the North Buffalo company's new customers are people who just got worn down by an stretch of high heat.

Afterward, Lalli said, "The biggest thing I hear is, 'Why did I wait so long to do this?'"

Brian Ritter said business for Zenner & Ritter Heating and Cooling was up over last July, and the warm weather is one factor. But federal and New York State Energy Star incentives for the purchase of energy-efficient air conditioners also are bringing in buyers, he said.

"In Buffalo, New York, as much as air conditioning might be a luxury to some, we just don't like feeling hot," said Ritter, a vice president of the Buffalo company. "When their air conditioner is broken, they want someone there right away."

July's electricity use led to sticker shock when some homeowners got their bills. The bill for Ron Tebo and his girlfriend Heather Kasperek at their West Seneca home rose to $97.35 for the period from June 22 to July 22 from $58.04 for the previous month.

They have an energy-efficient window-mounted unit on their second floor that runs just about all the time and another unit mounted in a window on the first floor that is used more judiciously, Tebo said.

Tebo spent a summer in Key West, Fla., so he knows what real heat and humidity are, but he understands why people in Buffalo turn to air conditioning to stay cool.

"I think because we're used to the cold weather, once it gets above 80, we can't absorb the heat," said Tebo, a Web entrepreneur whose latest idea is a site named Menu Shmenu that would host menus for restaurants.

McLaughlin, his wife, and their three children who live at home have one window-mounted unit that runs all the time and a couple of ceiling fans in the house.

The $45 increase in his bill isn't a huge amount of money, McLaughlin said, but it's more than he was expecting.

"It's kind of crazy," said McLaughlin, the Red's Basement blogger, who works in international customer service for a medical-device manufacturer.

Even people who don't have air conditioning saw a spike in July in their electric bills.

Kelly Papke owns a North Buffalo home and lives in the upper flat with two roommates. Her National Grid bill rose from $38.46 in the much-cooler July 2009 to $91.47 for this July, and her electricity use rose from 145 kilowatt-hours to 506 KWh.

She has one more roommate now, but she thinks the real difference is they went from four fans last year to seven fans this year, plus two ceiling fans.

"And they've been running a lot more," said Papke, a copywriter and social media strategist for Quinlan & Co. in Amherst.

The Key Center, at Fountain Plaza, saw electricity use rise 10 or 11 percent between the period that ended June 19 and the period that ended July 19 because of higher demands on its air-conditioning system.

On more than one day last month, the air conditioning was kept on overnight because the building wouldn't have cooled down enough the next day if it had been turned off, said Bob Schiller, Key Center chief engineer and property manager.

During the summer, air conditioning accounts for about one-third of the electricity use in the center's two towers, which hold about 1,300 workers. "It's a big portion of it," Schiller said.

This demand set a statewide record for electricity use, according to the New York Independent System Operator, the not-for-profit that operates the state's bulk electrical grid.

Customers in the state used 17,312 gigawatt hours of electricity in July, the highest monthly total ever recorded, the group stated. (A gigawatt is equal to one million kilowatts.)

The previous state record was 17,003 GWh, set in August 2005, and July's electricity use was up 19 percent over July 2009.

Western New York customers used 1,504 GWh in July, also an increase of 19 percent over the electricity use in this region in July 2009, the ISO reported.

National Grid saw a record level of electricity use for any day in its recorded history, which includes predecessor Niagara Mohawk, on July 6.

That record for use across its Upstate New York network was broken on July 7 and again on July 8, said Stephen F. Brady, a company spokesman.

Use for the month was 3,039 GWh, an increase of 10 percent over the previous July. "Clearly, air conditioning loads have a lot to do with this," Brady said.

New York State Electric and Gas, which also serves customers here, saw demand rise 16 percent from July 2009 to this July but it did not break the monthly record.

We're not going to see much relief anytime soon from the heat and humidity -- or from the whirring of air conditioners.

The Weather Service is predicting daily highs in the low to mid-80s through Monday.

swatson@buffnews.comnull