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As extreme heat smothered the eastern United States over the July Fourth weekend and Europe struggled with its own deadly heat wave, experts warned that more record high temperatures could be in store for this year because of a strengthening El Niño.

“We know that temperatures are warming in the long term, linked to human-caused climate change, and El Niño acts to boost those temperatures temporarily,” climate scientist Zachary Labe of the nonprofit Climate Central said in a recent briefing.

Americans across the nation are being asked (or ordered) to conserve water, thanks to widespread drought made even worse by a punishing heat wave.

It’s being felt this summer in Virginia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Jersey and more.

California is investing $6 million to combat the spread of golden mussels after the species was discovered impacting water infrastructure in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including facilities serving San Joaquin County.

State officials say the mussels have begun attaching to pipes, pumps, and gates, increasing maintenance costs and raising concerns about the long-term reliability of the region’s water supply. The announcement comes after Stockton declared a local emergency when mussels were found in the city’s Delta water supply intake station.

Lake Powell, one of the American West’s largest reservoirs that helps provide water, irrigation and power for over 40 million Americans across seven states, is drying up.

Bordering Utah and Arizona, the man-made lake’s summer water levels are at their lowest in recorded history, according to Utah data.

High in the Rocky Mountains, spring-fed streams and ponds have vanished, leaving patches of cracked mud in what were once spongy meadows.

This year has been so extremely warm and arid that the mountains have remained largely snowless. The water-generating source of the Colorado River, its headwaters, is drying up.