Comments on “The Life Cycle of the Northern Hemisphere Sudden Stratospheric Warmings”.

The authors comment on an article about the life cycle of the Northern Hemisphere sudden stratospheric warmings (SSW). The article considers the life cycle of SSW from onset to maturity and eventually decay by compositing multiple events over the course of 80 days. The main emphasis is on the mature phases of the life cycle when there is a clear chain of downward stratosphere-to-troposphere propagation of anomalies. In this comment, the authors aim to focus on the onset results by placing the results in the context of more regional phenomena reported in earlier studies and providing a more comprehensive framework for understanding wintertime Northern Hemisphere climate variability and improved predictability.