Geomagnetic data from 82 northern hemisphere observatories have been used to derive the hemispheric magnetic potential distribution and equivalent ionospheric currents for the 36-hour geomagnetic storm period from 1200 UT on November 8 to 2400 UT on November 9, 1969. The hemispheric magnetic potential distribution is calculated at 2 1/2-min intervals during the period. These data are used to parameterized a time-dependent global distribution of high-latitude heating due to auroral processes. The zonally averaged high-latitude heating rate and the calculated solar EUV and UV heating rates appropriate to the date are used in a numerical model of the zonally symmetric thermosphere to calculate the time-dependent mean meridional circulation and latitudinal variation of temperature during the storm period. The results show that high-latitude heating during substorms causes considerable variability in the global thermospheric properties and circulation. During two successive large substorms, thermospheric waves are generated that propagate from high latitudes equatorward, producing global scale perturbations in the thermospheric properties and dynamics. With the requirement that the calculated global mean temperature response to the storm heating be consistent with predictions by various empirical models, a crude calibration of equivalent ionospheric current intensity to high-latitude heating is made.