Potential vorticity (PV) gradients defining the lower stratospheric vortex during the 1992--1993 winter were anomalously strong and persistent compared to those during the last 16 Arctic winters. For ≈3 months PV gradients were closer to typical Antarctic values than to most Arctic values. Air motion diagnostics computed for 3-dimensional air parcel trajectories confirm that the 1992--1993 Arctic lower stratospheric vortex was substantially more isolated than is typical. Such isolation will delay and reduce the export of the higher ozone typical of the winter lower stratospheric vortex to mid-latitudes. This may have contributed to the record-low total ozone amounts observed in northern mid-latitudes in 1993. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994