The temperatures we're enduring now would be unremarkable in some countries, but UK infrastructure isn't built for the soaring temperatures scorching the nation.
Road repairs following the 2003 heatwave cost £41m; damage and delays on the railways cost another £2.5m.In the summer of 2010, five million staff days were lost to high temperatures, with a £770m hit to businesses and the public sector. In today's money that's almost £1bn.What is the urban heat island effect?But they've designed their towns and cities to cope - think of the shaded squares, window shutters and whitewashed houses of the Mediterranean.
It's also been worth their while to invest in heat-tolerant rail-tracks, more resilient power grids and road surfaces that don't melt.The London of 2050 is expected to have the climate that Barcelona has today. By the end of the century temperatures will top 40C every decade or so under current predictions of future greenhouse gas emissions.
Watch the Daily Climate Show at 3.30pm Monday to Friday, and The Climate Show with Tom Heap on Saturday and Sunday at 3.30pm and 7.30pm.The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.
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