In summer 2018, an extraordinary heat wave with record-breaking high temperatures hit Northeast Asia. However, the contribution of atmospheric circulation to this heat wave remains unknown. In this study, we quantify the contribution of circulation by using the flow analogue method. It is found that Northeast China, Korea and Japan were the most affected areas by the heat event, from daily to monthly timescales. The persistent high temperature was associated with an anticyclonic anomaly over Northeast Asia, related to the record-breaking northward shift of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH). The persistent anomalous anticyclone played a dominant role in this heat event, explaining half of the magnitude of the heat event. Both thermodynamical change and dynamical change in recent decades have increased the probability of occurrence of this kind of heat event over Northeast Asia. Specifically, the change in dynamical flow explains a fraction of less than 20% of the increases in probability of heat events. The contribution of thermodynamical changes to heat events generally increases with the rarity of the extreme event.