Bitcoin QT data directory Mac

I'm having a strange problem where any random program I have open will suddenly jump to 100% + CPU in activity monitor making the CPU temps jump from ~55C to 80 or 90C. This is really annoying as I have to close the affected program and reopen it when this happens. It seems to happen completely randomly. I first noticed this problem while running the Bitcoin-qt client however, while downloading blocks it took up a reported 700% CPU.