While this may sound like great news for vendors of ice cream and stores that sell and repair air conditioning systems, the long-term consequences might be dire. The combination of the heat wave and severe drought in Europe led to serious environmental damage in 2003. It resulted in catastrophic fires and over 30,000 deaths. The estimates of the U.N. conclude that there were financial losses of more than 13 billion euros that year.

So, the big question remains is whether the heat wave 2010 is a sign of global warming. And if so, then may people wonder why there was so much snow the winter before on the East Coast. Climatologists point out that one shouldn’t jump to any conclusions because of single weather events, much more important is weather trends.

Asia, Peru and the Eastern Coast of the United States all set record breaking high temperatures. These were combined with out of control fires, drought and thousands of death. Billions of dollars in loss have been reported due to lack of the ability to grow traditional crops.