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During the four recent sunspot cycles the cyclonic vortex in the lower stratosphere in midwinter acted according to theory in the solar-cycle minima, being cold and intense in the west years of the QBO and warmer in the east years. The winter of 1995-1996 was no exception since its stratospheric vortex was among the coldest and most intense on record. The stratospheric vortex behaves in the opposite sense in maxima of the solar cycle; that is, contrary to theoretical expectations.