residents of california are bracing for a weekend of record setting temperatures as heat continues to build on the west coast. the us national weather service has issued an excessive heat alert, with meteorologists warning that some of southern california 5 inland areas could reach temperatures of 49 degrees celsius that s around 120 degrees fahrenheit. earlier, we heard from eric schoening, who is a meteorologist for the us national weather service, and he explained the current situation. yes, this is a long duration and widespread heatwave across much of the united states that has already begun and it is really going to peak this weekend. we are going to see those really hot temperatures and really big heat impacts, potential health impacts, for the population through the weekend and into the beginning of next week. much of the western united states is in extreme drought, it has been going on for quite a while, and that creates a lot of concerns.