Extreme heat is becoming a dangerous new normal. Last week, it affected much of the United States.

This week, it's hitting Europe. The heat brings with it a number of health risks.

From severe burns to accelerated aging, the effects of long periods of high temperatures on the human body are getting more attention in this time of rising climate change.

Stephanie Sye reports from Phoenix, the epicenter of extreme heat in the United States,

for our series Tipping Point.

Summer's off to a sweltering start. From New York to Chicago, triple-digit temperatures are

behind heat illnesses, cancellations of sporting events,

and strained power grids and outages. But nowhere is the heat more dangerous than in Maricopa

County, Arizona, which every summer records hundreds of heat-related deaths and an untold number

of heat-related burns. I was checking the pool.

It was July 3rd, the hottest day of the year at that time.

It was about 116 degrees.

Phoenix resident Robert Woolley is 72.

The retired teacher and former Navy aviator

was walking around his pool two summers ago when he tripped and fell.

I put my hand down to catch myself and I was startled by how hot and sharp the rocks were

and instinctively I picked my hand up and I went all the way down to the ground and I actually hit my head on the ground

and I tried to push myself back up and I

got partway up and I tried that several more times and I just could not get back up and

each time I tried my hands hurt worse and worse and worse and I looked at my hands

and the skin had peeled off my hands and it looked like raw hamburger underneath.

He eventually made it to the back door where his wife could hear him.

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