A synoptic analysis is presented of the tropical circulation between the longitudes 70°E and 180° for the southern hemisphere winter of 1986. From data analysed it is inferred that during this period the tropical Hadley Cells were weaker than normal with their foci of ascent and descent displaced eastwards from the climatologically normal positions. The changed large-scale circulation was associated with significant variations in regional climate: central Australia experienced record winter-time rains, a 28-year minimum in tropical cyclone numbers was observed in the northwest Pacific Ocean and the rainfall over the Indian subcontinent was below normal for the southwest monsoon season.
Kingston et al. (Sun,) studied this question.