July 2025 has been recorded as the third-hottest month globally, raising fears of more intense and frequent heatwaves in the near future, according to climate experts.

The Beijing-based World Meteorological Centre (WMC) has warned that from next week, severe heatwaves are likely to affect Pakistan along with several other regions across the globe.

The warning comes as European climate scientists revealed that last month was the third-hottest July ever recorded, extending the unprecedented heat streak of recent months.

Carlo Buontempo, Director of the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, noted that although the trend of setting new global temperature records seems to have paused since the hottest July on record two years ago, this does not indicate a halt in climate change.

“We are witnessing the impacts of a warming planet,” Buontempo said, pointing out that July’s extreme heatwaves and devastating floods were direct consequences of global warming.

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This July, Pakistan, India, and China experienced destructive floods due to heavy rainfall, while Canada, Scotland, and Greece struggled to control wildfires triggered by severe droughts. Several countries in Asia and Scandinavia also recorded new average temperature highs.

According to the WMC, last week temperatures in Western and Southern Asia, North Africa, Pakistan, India, Japan, the United States, and Mexico consistently exceeded 38°C, with some areas reaching a scorching 50°C. Forecasts suggest that the influence of the subtropical high-pressure system will sustain the heatwave trend in the coming days.

Copernicus data shows that while some regions saw relatively mild conditions in July, at least 11 countries—including China, Japan, and Tajikistan—experienced their hottest July in at least 50 years.

Oceans also saw extraordinary warming, with sea surface temperatures in the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea, and parts of the North Atlantic reaching record highs. Arctic sea ice extent was 10% below average, marking the second-lowest July coverage in the past 47 years, raising further concerns over accelerating planetary warming.