Hot weather heats up business with shoppers looking for air conditioning and shade

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The gloomy days of May and June had business owners dismayed by the slow down in foot traffic, but sunny weather is changing that. It may be extreme heat but many people are out and plan to do so over the weekend.

One Santa Barbara resident on State Street in downtown Friday afternoon, Ken Lord, said where he was it showed a temperature of over 100 degrees.

"In a way it is kind of challenging  just to live with it ya know," said Lord.

For those getting a bite, the outside tables looked enticing, but inside had the cool air.

Laura Cordero was on lower State Street and said, "we were sitting inside and it was great. They had the doors open so they had the breeze  but they definitely had the AC on as well so it was very comfortable."

"We could have considered sitting outside but we decided to go for the AC because it is a warm day and all in all it worked out," said Joey Cordero as he was looking for a wine tasting location.

Businesses selling cold drinks, ice cream and frozen yogurt were doing particularly well.

This warm weather is expected to continue to bring out some larger than normal crowds especially from the inland areas where the highs have hit 115 degrees.