How to stay cool in a heat wave even without air conditioning

Heat can be dangerous, but health experts say there are ways to manage the threat.

Scorching temperatures, especially combined with high humidity, pose risks particularly for children, older people and those with certain health conditions. Anyone can suffer from heat-related illness.

Climate change is also exacerbating heat waves and heat stress.

So here are some tips to stay safe:

Dangers posed by hot weather depend on more than the temperature. The most detailed measurement is called the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which includes temperature, humidity, cloud cover and wind. The heat index, which measures temperature and humidity, is less descriptive but easier to find on weather apps. Both explain why a shaded soccer field on a 90 degree F day (32 degree C) in arid Phoenix may be less risky than an exposed park on an 80 degree F (27 degree C) day in soupy Little Rock.

Just based on heat index, NOAA has a chart that calculates how dangerous prolonged exposure can be. For example, a day in which temperatures reach 96 degree F (36 degrees C) and 45% humidity would fall into the “danger” category for prolonged exposure or strenuous activity.

The WBGT threshold isn't exact, but recent research suggests that even some young, healthy people can't endure hours of exposure to high heat and humidity.

Overnight temperatures can be a particularly dangerous part of a heat wave, said Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University.

“Your body needs a reprieve,” she said. “You don't get that overnight, we start the next day at a deficit.” Heat can worsen labor productivity and lead to more visits to the emergency room.

“When we have overnight temperatures that don't drop below 75 degrees" F (24 degrees C), she said, “you start to see some pretty extraordinary outcomes with respect to heat illness and heat stroke, and even mortality.”

Ward said air conditioning can help, but she acknowledged that not everyone has access.

If you can't afford to cool the whole house, Ward said, create a “cool corner" and sleep there, so your body is prepared to tackle the next day.

Evaporative or “swamp” coolers can help in dry heat, but they increase humidity and can make it more difficult to cool down. In humid places, just use a fan.

If you don't have air conditioning, find public places that do, including movie theaters, malls and libraries. Some communities set up cooling centers.

Depending on where you live, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program can help you buy a window air conditioning unit, according to the National Council on Aging. Some local nonprofits and civic organizations can also help.

Knowing what workplace protections you have is important. Some states have them, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Other states don't have any.

If your state has work rules, try to learn them — though there are still challenges to ensuring regulations are actually enforced, said Bharat Venkat, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Heat Lab.

He notes that sometimes shaded areas are too far away for workers to take breaks without losing wages, or that management can make it impossible for workers to advocate for themselves. “Most workers don’t actually have control over their time or control over where they work," Venkat said.

Within those constraints, finding ways to stay hydrated and lower your body temperature are important. You can do this by drinking lots of fluids, wetting clothing or putting cold water or a cold rag on your hands, feet, armpits and neck. A portable handheld fan or a cooling vest can also help.

If you're exercising, avoid the hottest times of day and bring more water than you think you need.

Heat illness symptoms can vary by person, Venkat said. Medications or existing health conditions can also make it harder to regulate body temperature or notice you're getting too hot.

Early trouble signs include heavy sweating, muscle cramps and headache. That's when you stop what you're doing and cool yourself off, for example by splashing yourself with cold water or finding an air-conditioned space.

As heat exhaustion sets in, new symptoms arrive, including faster heart rate and dizziness. Next comes heat stroke, which can include confusion, slurred words and fainting. Ward said that's when to call 911.

“Don’t be embarrassed to call 911 or go to urgent care when you think you might have overdone it in the heat,” he said.

Walling and Wells are former Associated Press reporters.

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FILE - Petrona Romero, right, drinks an electrolyte beverage while working alongside her husband, Cristino, in a sugarcane field in Niland, Calif., Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - Grace Chyuwei pours water on Joe Chyuwei to help with the heat Aug. 3, 2025, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

FILE - Workers climb down from a building during a heat advisory, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)

FILE - A person uses a fan as they wait in line to purchase Broadway tickets in Times Square, during a heat advisory in New York, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Supreme Court that has expanded gun rights will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.

The justices said Tuesday they will hear appeals challenging bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in Connecticut and the Chicago area.

Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings. States have also continued to pass their own laws, including recent measures in Virginia and Rhode Island.

It is the latest high-profile dispute over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.

Arguments are expected to be heard in the fall.

The Connecticut law was passed after a mass shooter used an AR-15 to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The state says the guns are a preferred weapon of mass shooters, and they can be banned because they are similar to military-grade weapons.

“These laws are critical public safety measures, and they are consistent with the Second Amendment," said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at the gun-control group Everytown Law.

Gun rights groups, on the other hand, argue it’s unconstitutional to ban semiautomatic rifles, which are legally owned by millions of Americans.

“The Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and it’s hard to argue that a type of rifle that potentially outnumbers Ford F-150 trucks in America doesn’t meet that standard,” said Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation.

Four conservative justices on the nine-member court, enough to grant review of a case, had signaled that it was only a matter of time before the court took up the issue.

The ban in Cook County, Illinois, was first passed in 1993. Lower courts have upheld both laws.

“If the Second Amendment does not protect the most popular rifles in the country, it is hard to see how it protects any firearms at all,” aside from handguns kept in the home, the challengers wrote.

Attorneys for Cook County, on the other hand, say the measure does pass constitutional muster. "The trauma that assault weapon massacres have inflicted on the public at large has been staggering,” they wrote.

The Supreme Court backed Second Amendment rights in two cases this term, striking down gun carry restrictions in Hawaii and a broad federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users. They've previously upheld some restrictions, though, including a law barring people under domestic-violence restraining orders from having guns.

Also Tuesday, the court rebuffed a series of cases over restrictions on guns for young adults under age 21, declining to hear an issue that's sharply divided lower courts in recent years.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

A group prays outside of the Supreme Court ahead of the court's ruling on whether transgender girls and women can play on school athletic teams, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)