Compared to a low pressure dielectric barrier discharge(DBD), the collisions among particles are more frequent and the gas temperature rise is more high in an atmospheric pressure DBD. In this paper, a two-dimensional fluid model is applied to investigate the influences of gas temperature rise on an atmospheric pressure helium DBD. With the increase of the gas temperature, it is found that (1) a helium discharge can evolve from discharge column to homogeneous discharge; (2) the breakdown time advances and the gas breakdown voltage decreases; (3) the evolution of spatial distribution of the electron density is almost the same with the helium atom density. The most significant discrepancy between them is that the electron densities are high at some positions where the helium atom densities are nevertheless low. What’s more, the radial reduced electric fields under different gas temperatures are obtained. The physical reasons for the gas temperature effects are discussed.The simulation results can provide a better understanding of the roles of the radial reduced electric field and the heavy particle.