This week, records were broken in the UK when the temperature soared into the high 30's and even surpassed 40 degrees celsius in some areas for the first time ever, causing chaos for ambulance services and fire crews who battled widespread heat exhaustion and wildfires.

Despite the threat to human life and property, many Aussies were scoffing at the British for not being able to handle a couple of days of temperatures that we deal with every summer, but is that really fair given their country is not designed to cope with extreme heat?

The Quicky speaks to a climate expert to find out why even just a couple of days of 40+ degrees caused such devastation in Britain, and what could happen if heatwaves such as this become increasingly common in Europe.

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CREDITS 

Host: Claire Murphy

With thanks to:

Dr Ben Henley - Lecturer at Wollongong University, Research Fellow at 'Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future' (SAEF) and Domain Editor at WIREs Climate Change

Producer: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Siobhán Moran-McFarlane

Audio Producer: Thom Lion

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