Early winter in the northern stratosphere

An account is given of the evolution and structure of the circulation in the stratosphere and upper troposphere of the northern hemisphere in the early winter of 1982/83. An early winter warming is described and it is shown to have some features in common with Canadian warmings. A tentative connection is made between the intensification in the troposphere of a trough/ridge pattern associated with the East Asian low and the establishment of the Aleutian high as a persistent feature extending through the whole depth of the stratosphere. Processes leading to the formation of the so‐called surf‐zone are considered, and aspects of zonalmean diagnostics are related to developments on synoptic maps.