AbstractThe effects of imposing at various altitudes in the stratosphere zonally symmetric circulation anomalies associated with a stratospheric sudden warming are investigated in a mechanistic circulation model. A shift of the tropospheric jet is found even when the anomalies are imposed only above 2 hPa. Their influence is communicated downward through the planetary wave field via three distinct mechanisms. First, a significant fraction of the amplification of the upward fluxes of wave activity prior to the central date of the warming is due to the coupled evolution of the stratospheric zonal mean state and the wave field throughout the column. Second, a downward propagating region of localized wave, mean‐flow interaction is active around the central date but does not penetrate the tropopause. Third, there is deep, vertically synchronous suppression of upward fluxes following the central date. The magnitude of this suppression correlates with that of the tropospheric jet shift.