Arizona and the southwest are not alone in the record heatwave.
A study released Monday by scientists at the University of Hawaii shows deadly heat waves are already threatening 30 percent of the world’s population.
As we endured temperatures near 120 degrees, unusually high heat gripped parts of Europe. In Portugal, heat dried forests are blamed for deadly wildland fires where at least 60 people died.
The study's findings contribute the trend to greenhouse gasses aggressively eroding the earth's atmosphere.
Researchers looked at deadly heatwave cycles between 1980 and 2014 and found 164 cities across 36 countries experienced lethal high temperatures.
Comparing climatic data with times, locations, surface air tempatures, relative humidity, solar radiation and wind speed, scientists plotted areas and found one-third of the world experienced crossed lethal heat thresholds beyond 20 days per year.
Camilo Mora led the study and warned our options for reversing the heatwave trend are now between "bad" and "terrible," and predicted heatwaves will threaten nearly three-quarters of the world’s population by the end of this century.
