Lower stratospheric temperatures during the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition are compared with temperatures available since January, 1964. January 1989, was the coldest average January in the last 26 years at high latitude, lower stratospheric levels. There have been other months with temperatures almost as low as the levels of January, 1989, and localized temperatures (e.g., minimum polar vortex temperatures) have been lower than that encountered in January 1989. February, 1989, was warmer than average and March, 1989, had some of the highest polar vortex temperatures in the last 26 years. Conditions were therefore not very favorable for Polar Stratospheric Cloud (PSC) formation into early spring. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990