You could make the argument the summer of 2018 in the Pembina Valley has been twice as hot as normal. That is because there have already been about 17 days where the mercury hit 30 degrees or higher since June 1.

Natalie Hasell with Environment Canada explains on a number of occasions this summer we have had ridges of high pressure set themselves over the Prairies. Under these conditions, the air tends to warm up in spring and summer. In fact, last week it was such a large ridge of high pressure that it acted as a dome of heat over the Prairies, culminating in record-breaking temperatures on the weekend. That ridge made its way into northwestern Ontario Monday, resulting in cooler than normal conditions the last two days.

This year we had six days above 30 degrees in June, three in July and eight through the first half of August. There were six straight days of 30 degrees recorded at the Gretna weather station, which came to an end this Monday.

But even though the summer has been hot, Hasell says it's not that we are continuously breaking records on a daily basis. Rather, it seems accumulatively it's been hot.

After two days of cooler air, Hasell says we should push past normal highs again beginning Wednesday and continuing through the weekend. But don't expect the same sort of heat we experienced last weekend. And, Hasell says if not for the smoke last week, the temperatures could have been even higher.

"As the sunshine hit the smoke some of it gets reflected or deflected back to space, so we actually didn't have quite as much daytime heating in those days where the smoke in the air was relatively thick," she explains. "Luckily it was thicker aloft than it was at the surface."

Not only that, but Hasell says while the air felt extremely hot last week, the sun's rays didn't have the same sort of intensity on the body because of the smoke.