I wanted to start visible a thread about ways to cope with the extreme heat
especially for those who may lose power in the storms that have been rolling through many areas.
My family lived off grid last year and we would often set up a wet sheet in the doorway to bring through some cool air. It really works, especially if the ambient air is hot and dry. Evaporation also helps to cool off a body when a damp tee-shirt is worn. It isn't the most comfortable but it really helps keep a person cooler and helps prevent heat related illness. A small cloth can be dampened and placed on the neck as well.
Food can be kept longer in a shaded, or (even better) buried, cooler and in extreme power outages with intense heat a zeer pot can be made. It requires nesting clay pots with a layer of damp sand between. The item to be cooled is placed within the inner pot and the top covered. As the moisture evaporates it removes the heat from the inner pot. Like all evap. set ups, hot, dry air works best.
These things may seem simple and obvious but there are always some who suffer during extreme heatwaves, especially when their typical coping mechanisms are offline.
If anyone has other coping ideas, please feel free to share them here.
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No air, no swam cooler. We reached 94° in the house the other day! Went through a bottle & a half of water. 
The dog loves to get wet-head & sit in front of the fan.
Now that it is hurricane season down here. Thanks for it
If you don't have the money to buy a radio (or haven't made your way to the store to purchase batteries), you can always put the NOAA app on your smart phone.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noaa-now/id425914352?mt=8
Granted, the phone will eventually need to be charged, but you can always recharge it in your car while you're heading down to the store to get batteries.
A damp cloth over the head and neck and even over the shoulders will help, for me at least keeping the head and neck damp is less bothersome than other parts of my body, YMMV of course.
Something like a Keffieyeh but keep it damp..
Thanks to HOA.
I don't get it. When I was a kid, everyone had a clothesline & there were no privacy fences. Now we all have privacy fences, but clotheslines are not allowed because people don't want to see their neighbor's undies on the line. 
Nothing is as nice as getting into a bed with fresh sheets that were line dried!
Total Material Cost: $2.95 for coated cable. The rest from scraps
Dollars paid to Energy Corporations.... $0.00
Taxes paid...... $0.00
Non-Renewable Energy Consumed.... Zero
Toxic emissions... Zero
will America get it's act together on this one, as the lower altitudes heat up? I doubt it. Outside of retail, corporate America can't think outside the 8-5 box. 
If the power goes out here in Chandler, AZ, we're going to a hotel and hanging out.
We have bottles of water in both freezers and 2 extra bags of ice cubes.
And forget the "not drinking alcohol". That's the only way to survive an AZ summer!
I'm going back in September. And I feel you on the drinking part.
But it works right now.
Have you seen the "new" "old" downtown? It's the place to be nowadays.
is colder than my cold water. 
The reaction from people who are experiencing their first real heat event is to set the thermostat way lower than you should in order to be reaaaallllly cold. Don't do it, it strains your AC unit badly and increases the odd chance of failure. Keep your temp indoors in the mid 80's when its over 100 outside. If you want to be cool, take a cold shower or fill your bathtub with cold water then dip in it..........and don't dry yourself off. Remember, it's just water, it won't hurt most furniture and dries quickly.
Good luck to all my fellow DU pals experiencing the unusual heat.
Does everyone enjoy being spritzed?
and your neck cool will help more than anything, just like keeping your head and neck warm helps when it is cold. Bunch of blood vessels there 
.
Avoid synthetic fabrics. I live in So California desert. 112 yesterday and today. Cotton breaths, synthetics make you feel like your in a plastic bag.
sealing your house in the morning is a good idea. close all windows and draw all shades. close interior doors. when it gets warmer inside than out (around 5-6pm in my house & location) i open the windows to get a breeze going.
drink fluids like gatorade or juice in addition to water. when you sweat, you need to replace more than just water.
if you have a basement, put a box fan in the doorway to suck cool air up into your living space. better yet it you have a furnished basement, spend more time down there.
dont be afraid to ask a neighbor or friend if you can swim. most are happy to oblige. plus its a good way to meet people. the worst they can say is no (hopefully... some ppl can be more colorful 
)
its obvious but should be restated: if you have to work outdoors try to do the most strenuous activities very early or very late when its cooler. digging trenches in 100F weather is neither fun nor healthy
if you feel weak or dizzy or just 'off' PLEASE take a break. heat stroke & sun poisoning are no joke.
stay cool DUers!
Just got home from our big parade, it may be up to 4 1/2 minutes NOW. Sat in the back of a small truck/float throwing candy for 55 minutes, with a kitchen terry towel soaked wet and ice within around my neck. ALSO-take a baby aspirin if you get heat headaches. Had a hat on but it blew off. And a cooler with ice and water/pop/tea.
Next year I hope we have the parade at 10 a.m. instead of starting at 1 p.m.!
AND don't throw chocolate candies!
Lot of really good ideas here. Got one of the mesh/screen doors with the magnets, at night open the door to the deck and it seems to provide circulation from the AC into the bedroom.
I love it, but got a long haired dog that REALLY loves it.
Thanks EVERYONE for sharing.
Back east extreme heat mixed with Humidity is nasty. Out West, I have been in 100 degree plus days in Arizona, and its all DRY heat. Dry heat to me is more comfortable.. though in places like Arizona, you need an A/C. One thing you never want to do is go barefoot on an extreme heat day...you can probably cook eggs on the black topped asphalt!!
When I was in Upstate, NY and it would get up to 90 degrees, the humidity was horrible. You could hardly breath ..and even running though a sprinkler didn't help much.
I think I am in the best place possible in San Francisco, now. We have fog all summer, the temperatures remain in the mid to upper 60s. If you are down by Fisherman's wharf you get the breezes off the bay. If you are out in the Avenues you get the wind from the Ocean coming in.
Its night time though, when it starts to get really cold in the Summer times. The fog clings around everything, seeps into walls, sweaters, blankets, and chills you to the bone. There is something about very cool temperatures and moisture thick as fog together.
unless you are wrapped up very tight, it will make you shiver all night.
Humidity makes the heat WAAAYYYYY worse and much more intolerable. It is amazing to me how much better I can handle hot temps if the dew point is low (not often here in Iowa!). But if the dew point is high, even 75 degrees can feel yucky, and 90 or 95 is just flat out misery. Hard to breath, headaches, easy exhaustion. I avoid being outside like the plague!
You simply cannot cool off because your sweat doesn't evaporate. And you feel wet and slimy and stinky all the time. Hair goes either completely limp, wavy or frizzy depending in your hair type. I HATE humidity. I live in the wrong state.
I visited San Francisco a few year ago - in May. It was actually slightly cooler there than it was back home in Iowa at that time. I loved the climate there. Dry. Few bugs (it seemed to me). Definitely cool, occasionally chilly. But I could definitely deal with the year-round moderate temps. Anything between 50 and 80 and I'm pretty happy. Unfortunately, here in Iowa during the course of a year, our temps can range from -30 to 105 in the extreme. -20 to 98 is pretty typical in any given year.
We've already had a string of 90 degree days, and the forecast is for the next 7 days to be 90-95 every day. HUMID, of course. And only a few slight chances for rain and we are terribly dry right now. And it's only the end of JUNE. July is usually the worst. UGH. 
It also keeps the heat out in summer. The air in your house/room will no longer be touching those hot windows. I can't tell you how excellent this works. I hardly turn my overhead fans on anymore or open windows. Plus it saves lots money and work as you're all set for the coming winter. 
