FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- As temperatures soar across the Central Valley, Fresno residents are already feeling the heat, weeks ahead of the official start of summer.
"It's like you have your oven running and you open the door, and all that heat just blasts you right in the face," said Tony Valdez, a Fresno resident shopping at Fresno Ag Hardware on Sunday.
Valdez and his partner, Lisa Castaneda, were among several customers looking for ways to stay cool as the region experiences an early-season heat wave.
"As soon as you step outside, you can't escape it; it follows you everywhere you go," Castaneda said.
At Fresno Ag Hardware in northeast Fresno, store manager Kevin Seubert said the store has seen a spike in sales of garden hoses and evaporative coolers. The store sold about $1,500 worth of cooling units on Sunday alone.
But the real hot item? Air conditioning capacitors.
"There's a start capacitor that gets the motor running and a run capacitor that gives it a little boost to keep it going," Seubert explained. "We're one of the few places open on weekends that keeps them in stock."
Another store employee said they sold at least four cooling units on Sunday, underscoring the community's urgent need to beat the heat.
With temperatures expected to remain high, residents are bracing for a long, hot summer ahead.