The Importance of Arctic Highs to the Winter Climate of the High and Mid-Latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere

Arctic high-pressure systems develop in the lower troposphere of the arctic regions during the cool season. These arctic highs not only play a crucial role in the sensible weather of the high latitudes, they are also an important winter phenomenon of the mid-latitudes. Arctic outbreaks are responsible for a large portion of severe winter weather in populated centers of the eastern US, Europe and East Asia. We have produced a climatology of the frequency of strong polar anticyclones and examined the large-scale dynamical ad thermodynamical processes involved in the development of the most intense anticyclones. We also postulate that arctic highs in the Siberia region play a role in troposphere-stratosphere coupling including stratospheric warmings, and influence the phase and magnitude of the dominant northern hemisphere teleconnection pattern—the arctic oscillation.