I took all these threads, ran them through a tool, and asked it to extract the 100 best ideas. I haven't proofread but maybe this could be the start for a wiki or some sort of thread we could promote.
I have processed the multi-page discussions from those threads and filtered out the general commentary, duplicates, and complex permaculture engineering theories.
Here is a clean, direct, numbered list of 100 practical ideas to handle a severe heat dome, categorized by how they are applied.
### Personal Cooling & Clothing
1. Wear a thoroughly soaked buff or light scarf around your neck.
2. Tie a wet turban or bandana around your head while working.
3. Dip your shirt or nightgown in water, wring it out, and wear it wet.
4. Take multiple quick, cool showers throughout the day without drying your hair.
5. Wipe your skin down frequently using a rag dipped in a bucket of cool water.
6. Sleep with a damp sheet or wet towel laid directly over your bare body.
7. Hold a cold metal spoon or an ice cube against your inner wrists where blood vessels are close to the skin.
8. Soak your feet in a bucket of cold water while sitting at a desk or watching TV.
9. Wear loose-fitting, lightweight clothing made of natural fibers like linen or hemp.
10. Minimize physical exertion and rest during the hottest peak afternoon hours.
11. Drink iced herbal refrigerant teas like hibiscus, lemongrass, peppermint, or lemon balm.
12. Mist your face and bare skin continuously with a spray bottle filled with cold water.
13. Keep your hair wet or go to sleep with soaking wet hair.
14. Put your socks or t-shirt in the freezer for an hour before wearing them.
### Managing Airflow & Windows
15. Shut all windows and doors tight the moment the outdoor temperature matches the indoor temperature in the morning.
16. Open every window and door completely late at night and early in the morning to trap cold air.
17. Hang wet towels or sheets directly over open windows to create a makeshift evaporative cooler.
18. Hang wet cheesecloth over window screens to cool incoming air.
19. Point a box fan out of a window on the hot side of the house to push hot air out.
20. Place a powerful fan outside a door at night to push massive amounts of cool air inward.
21. Set up a fan to blow directly onto your bed while sleeping under a damp cloth.
22. Run a small personal fan directly over your body rather than trying to move air through the entire room.
23. Avoid using fans if the room temperature exceeds 95°F (35°C) and you cannot add moisture, as it can accelerate dehydration.
24. Create a cross-breeze by opening windows on opposite sides of the house during the coolest night hours.
25. Close all interior doors to unused rooms during the day to isolate the cool air in the spaces you actually inhabit.
### Controlling Exterior Heat & Shade
26. Hang heavy towels or old blankets on the outside of western and southern windows to block the sun before it hits the glass.
27. Clamp cheap polyester lace fabric or thrifted tablecloths to gutters to act as external solar screens over windows.
28. Drop external roll-down blinds or bamboo shades over porches and windows before sunrise.
29. Prop an old door or a piece of plywood externally against a west-facing window during the afternoon.
30. Paint your roof white or apply a highly reflective elastomeric roof coating to reflect solar radiation.
31. Set up a temporary tarp or shade sail over the southern and western sides of the house structure.
32. Grow fast-climbing annual vines like Scarlet Runner beans or hops on string trellises on the west side of the house.
33. Plant a thick hedge near the house to block ground reflection and provide evaporative cooling from the leaves.
34. Grow deciduous trees specifically on the south and west sides of the property for summer shade.
35. Construct a trellis-covered shade house along the sun-exposed walls to cool the air before it reaches the windows.
### Food, Cooking, & Appliances
36. Cook all meals outdoors using a barbecue grill, camp stove, or a propane burner.
37. Use a countertop crockpot or instant pot outside on a porch or garage instead of using the indoor stove.
38. Eat cold meals entirely, focusing on salads, raw fruits, and sandwiches that require zero heat to prepare.
39. Shift your heavy cooking or baking to late-night or early-morning hours.
40. Turn off the stove or oven completely during a heat dome and do not use them under any circumstance.
41. Do not run the dishwasher during the day, as the drying cycle releases massive amounts of heat and humidity.
42. Do not use the indoor clothes dryer; hang all laundry outside on a clothesline.
43. Unplug all electronics, computers, chargers, and television sets when not actively in use.
44. Turn off all incandescent light bulbs and switch entirely to LEDs, which emit negligible heat.
45. Form a regional dinner club with neighbors to consolidate cooking heat into just one house a few times a week.
46. Keep your refrigerator and freezer completely full by filling empty spaces with jugs of water to maintain thermal mass.
47. Clean the dust off your refrigerator’s external coils so it runs efficiently and releases less heat into the kitchen.
48. Put bottled water in the fridge and freezer ahead of time to build up a large storage of cold mass.
### Water & Evaporative Strategies
49. Pour water directly onto interior concrete or tile floors to create an indoor evaporative cooling effect.
50. Spray down the exterior roof with a garden hose during the hottest part of the afternoon to lower the roof deck temperature.
51. Spray down exterior brick walls, concrete patios, and walkways near the house doors with water.
52. Build a stack of concrete blocks on the sunny side of an open window and keep them thoroughly soaked with a hose.
53. Set up outdoor misters under a porch or shade tarp where people congregate.
54. Set up an inexpensive, temporary above-ground wading pool in the shade to dip into throughout the day.
55. Run a water pump from a cool well or rainwater collector through pex tubing on the roof, returning unevaporated water to the gutter.
### Structural & Spatial Shifts
56. Move your sleeping setup into the basement or lowest level of the house where the air is naturally cooler.
57. Set up an outdoor sleeping area using a mattress or cot enclosed in army surplus mosquito netting.
58. Sleep directly on a woven bamboo mat or a hard floor instead of a thick, heat-trapping fabric mattress.
59. Increase interior thermal mass by keeping heavy furniture, brick walls, or water barrels inside to absorb daytime heat.
60. Ensure your attic space is highly vented using ridge vents, soffit vents, or a roof-turbine vent to prevent heat trapping.
61. Install a whole-house attic fan to forcefully draw cool night air up through the living spaces and push hot attic air out.
62. Isolate a single, small room as your designated "cool room" rather than trying to cool a large, open-concept house.
63. Spend the hottest afternoon hours away from home in air-conditioned public spaces like libraries, malls, or bookstores.
64. Sleep on a screened-in porch to capture overnight ambient breezes safely.
### General Lifestyle & Adjustments
65. Drink plain water consistently before you actually feel thirsty.
66. Eat your heaviest meal of the day after dark when the ambient temperature drops.
67. Keep your body still and intentionally lower your personal activity levels to reduce metabolic heat generation.
68. Spend your daytime hours sitting directly on the floor where the coolest air settles.
69. Avoid heavy alcohol and high-protein meals, which can increase metabolic body heat and dehydration.
70. Wet your hat or cap thoroughly before stepping outside into the sun.
71. Keep emergency ice packs or frozen water bottles wrapped in a towel to place under your armpits if overheating occurs.
72. Use a handheld manual folding fan to create personal airflow without relying on electrical infrastructure.
73. Pull window curtains shut tightly inside the house, even if they are not blackout curtains, to reduce interior solar gain.
74. Tape aluminum foil or reflective space blankets directly to cardboard inserts and place them inside sun-facing windows.
75. Avoid hot beverages entirely during peak heat hours.
76. Take a dip in a nearby natural body of water like a river, creek, or spring multiple times a day if accessible.
77. Wear a wide-brimmed straw hat that allows air to circulate over your scalp while blocking direct sunlight.
78. Keep your skin shaded completely when outdoors; sunburns reduce your body’s ability to dissipate heat.
79. Wrap a frozen gel pack in a pillowcase and place it under your pillow before going to bed.
80. If using a small window AC unit, run it only in the smallest bedroom to chill it right before sleep, then switch to a fan.
81. Use a 12-volt marine or automotive fan powered by a simple battery setup to keep air moving if the grid fails.
82. Keep a dedicated bucket of water next to your favorite chair specifically for re-wetting cooling cloths.
83. Place a bowl or pan of ice directly in front of a desk fan to blow chilled air onto your face.
84. Keep a spray bottle of water in the refrigerator for an extra-cold mist when needed.
85. Wear sandals or go barefoot indoors to let heat escape through your feet.
86. Avoid using a microwave or toaster oven inside if the room is already holding heat.
87. Keep window screens immaculately clean to ensure maximum airflow when windows are opened at night.
88. Tie back heavy interior curtains during night cooling hours so they do not block incoming breezes.
89. Use a simple shade umbrella when walking outdoors between shaded zones.
90. Sleep under a cotton mosquito net with no blankets or sheets to maximize total body airflow.
91. Mist your bed sheets lightly with water from a spray bottle right before climbing into bed.
92. Keep your pets cool by wiping them down with wet towels or allowing them to sleep on damp bathroom tiles.
93. Avoid taking hot baths or long steam showers that add ambient humidity to the structure of the house.
94. Check your home’s insulation levels; good attic insulation keeps extreme attic heat from radiating down into the ceiling.
95. Use a solar chimney design to allow solar heat on a roof pipe to naturally draw hot air up and out of the living space.
96. Sleep alone in a bed during a heat wave to eliminate shared body heat.
97. Set your ceiling fan to rotate counterclockwise to push a cooling breeze straight down.
98. Avoid using heavy vacuum cleaners or carpet sweepers that generate motor heat indoors during peak hours.
99. Dampen your window curtains directly with a spray bottle if you cannot hang wet sheets.
100. Rest on a lawn chair in the deep shade of a tree outside if the interior house temperature becomes completely stagnant.
