Tips to keeping your home cool during the hot weather

TEMPERATURES ARE ALREADY SWELTERING THIS MORNING, WHICH MEANS IT WILL BE A FULL DAY OF PLAYING DEFENSE TO KEEP YOUR HOME COOL. TWENTY-TWO NEWS REPORTER DUNCAN MCLEAN IS LIVE IN SPRINGFIELD WITH A FEW WAYS YOU CAN DO THAT EFFICIENTLY. Rich Taylor we're live outside the Raymond Jordan Senior Center here in Springfield. One of the many centers open for cooling for residents today in case you can't keep your home cool or comfortable enough to survive this heat. If you're going to try to make it work at home though, we have some ways to make that a little easier today as temperatures swell into the 90s. First and foremost, close your blinds. The sun is the main driver of all this heat, so keep it out of your house the best you can to significantly cool things down, so cover up any doors and windows. It's tempting to let the breeze in through an open door or window, but that, too, releases any cooling work you've accomplished inside. Like my father always said, we aren't trying to cool the neighborhood. Keep it indoors. If you are without air conditioning at all today, you can turn any fan into a short-range chill machine. Just place a shallow bowl or pan of ice in front of any fan for a cool breeze. If you have ceiling fans, use the switch on the base to set them to rotate counterclockwise. That way they're pulling cooler air up and blowing it back at you rather than circulating that hot air that rises towards your ceiling. If you are running air conditioning today, kick it on early before we hit 80 degrees to cool things down. Before you leave for work, while you're gone during the day, keep it on. Working for you live in Springfield, Duncan McLean, 22 News.