This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Extreme heat has begun to hit the US, delivered by a high-pressure weather pattern that the federal weather prediction center says will be “potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations.” According to meteorologists with WeatherBELL Analytics, about 265 million people in the US are forecast to see air temperatures reach or exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with many of them experiencing heat indices of about 105 F by next Sunday. The system, an upper-level ridge of high pressure, is expected to bring record-breaking temperatures in the 90s and beyond.