Climate editor by Justin Rowlatt.

Image caption, Taking shelter from the scorching heat in New Delhi

The Met Office found that climate change makes record-breaking heatwaves in northwest India and Pakistan more likely.

The region should expect a heatwave that exceeds the record temperatures seen in 2010 once every three years.

Extreme temperatures would only occur once every 312 years without climate change, according to the Met Office.

Forecasters say temperatures in north-west India could reach new highs in the coming days.

The pre-monsoon heat wave in the region has been easing a bit after the temperature in Pakistan reached 51C on Saturday.

The heat is likely to build again towards the end of this week and into the weekend according to the Global Guidance Unit of the Met Office.

It says maximum temperatures are likely to reach 50C in some places.

The team responsible for today's study saysSpells of heat have always been a feature of the region's pre-monsoon climate.

Climate change is driving the heat intensity of these spells making record-breaking temperatures 100 times more likely.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Cooling off during a heatwave in India

The study is based on the hottest April and May on record in northwest India and Pakistan in 2010.

It tries to estimate the extent to which climate change made future events more likely.

Computer simulations are used to compare how frequently a weather event is likely to occur in two scenarios.

The human influence on greenhouse gases and other drivers of climate change has been removed in one model of the climate as it is today.

The scenarios are run through 14 different computer models and produced dozens of different simulations which are compared to work out how climate change has altered the probability of an event happening.

The Met Office warns that the impact of future climate change will be worse.

If the Met Office is correct in its predictions, India and Pakistan can expect high temperatures almost every year by the end of the century.