As temperatures across the U.S. continue to reach record highs, a small town in Kansas has been one of the hottest. Hill City reached 115 degrees last Tuesday, making it the hottest city in the United States — a title that it held four days in a row.

Air conditioners stopped working, and crops wilted and cooked in the fields. Though the heat has lifted slightly this week, temperatures in Hill City are still in the low 100s. In combination with a drought, the heat has meant that farmers in the area are giving up hope for their fields. Even grass, which feeds the area’s many beef cattle, has stopped growing.

Across the rest of the country, others also face record temperatures. At least 13 states are experiencing temperatures above 100 degrees, and this week nearly 200 cities have broken new records for high temperatures. Approximately 113 million people were in areas with extreme heat advisories last week. In the mid-Atlantic, as the heat wave continues, around 600,000 people still lack power after severe storms struck. In addition, 2.1 million acres have burned in wildfires this year, and two-thirds of the country is experiencing drought.

Is the heat wave an early indication of climate change? Though individual hot days or hot seasons can’t be linked to climate change without an understanding of long-term patterns, experts say that the weather in the U.S. now is consistent with the effects of climate change. More is predicted for the future: heat waves, droughts, widespread wildfires and severe storms are all expected to increase as the world’s average temperature aims higher.

Photo credit: CoolValley/Flickr