During the past 41 years there has been an observable effect of the 11-year solar cycle on the temperatures and heights in the levels between the middle troposphere and 10 hPa (the highest level in the data) in July--August. Between 30 ¿S and the North Pole the temperatures and heights were higher at peaks than in valleys of the solar cycle, between 30 ¿S and 70 ¿S they were lower in the peaks, and above Antarctica they were higher. This meridional pattern of differences and the fact that they decrease with decreasing elevation suggest that the solar signal observed below 10 hPa is imposed from above as an indirect, dynamic effect. The pattern of the temperature and height differences indicates that the solar cycle affects the southern winter and northern summer stratospheric vortices. At the earth's surface an 11-year solar signal is not obvious in the zonally averaged temperatures and pressures in July--August. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union