# @oxford_uni on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DaALMC7oace
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/67066084-oxford-uni-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/da85c3d038.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-06-25T08:50:20.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The University of Oxford (@oxford_uni) — https://gondola.cc/oxford_uni

## Caption

Why does this UK heatwave feel so intense? 🥵

The Smith School’s Dr Mireia Ginesta explains how prolonged heat, high humidity and warm nights can make extreme temperatures harder for our bodies to cope with - and why climate change is expected to make heatwaves like this more frequent and more severe in the UK.

TRANSCRIPT: 

This heatwave feels particularly exceptional in the UK because of a combination of prolonged, extreme heat and high levels of humidity. 

The heat itself is associated with a high-pressure system, and in this system, the air sinks, it gets compressed, and it warms further up as it descends. This heatwave is particularly uncomfortable because our bodies rely on sweat to cool down, and if the air is very humid and it’s very hot, sweat struggles to evaporate, which means that our natural cooling system is less efficient. 

So, the fact that these conditions persist over consecutive days and nights makes the situation even worse because, basically, our bodies accumulate heat stress, which means that we cannot recover overnight. And even in the UK, the UK is in a particularly high latitude, so basically, we are having lots of hours of direct sun.

In addition, much of the UK’s infrastructure is not adapted to this kind of heatwaves. Many buildings are retaining heat, public buildings, and also transportation is not adapted to this kind of heatwaves, as they would be in warmer climates, for example, in Spain. I’m from Spain, and we are more adapted to this kind of heatwaves because they basically happen more often. 

With climate change, we are going to experience this more often and even more intense, so it’s super important that we stop fossil fuel emissions and we start adapting to this changing climate.

#oxforduniversity #climatechange #heatwave #heatwaveuk

## Stats

- **Views:** 15,445
- **Likes:** 1,425
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 22

## Tags

climatechange, oxforduniversity, heatwaveuk, heatwave

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