Using the 1000-500 hPa thickness data, investigation is made of the rela-tionship between the horizontal structure of the winter temperature anomaly in the low-er troposphere over the NH extratropics and the heating anomaly of the underlying sur-face. It is shown that the most intensive and widespread temperature anomaly occurs inthe Eurasian inland. When it is abnormally warm in this area, the northwestern part ofEurope and the east coast of Asia will experience extreme cold, and the lower latitudesin the central Pacific, the west coast of North America and the mid-Atlantic will be ex-tremely warm, and vice versa. It may be inferred that the coverage of the polar sea icein the area of 20-110°W has much to do with the above temperature distribution.