The development in time and space of the planetary-scale height waves 1 and 2 and of the mean zonal flow is described for the winter 1978/79. It is concluded that this winter supports earlier observational results: the anomalous amplification of height wave 1 in the stratosphere concurrent with a distinct minimum of height wave 2 is a characteristic precondition for the development of a major warming. If, later, the breakdown itself concurs with the development of height wave 2, the amplification of height wave 1 before is needed insofar as it changes the zonal flow, i.e., displaces the stratospheric jet poleward, to favor propagation of height wave 2. Abstract The development in time and space of the planetary-scale height waves 1 and 2 and of the mean zonal flow is described for the winter 1978/79. It is concluded that this winter supports earlier observational results: the anomalous amplification of height wave 1 in the stratosphere concurrent with a distinct minimum of height wave 2 is a characteristic precondition for the development of a major warming. If, later, the breakdown itself concurs with the development of height wave 2, the amplification of height wave 1 before is needed insofar as it changes the zonal flow, i.e., displaces the stratospheric jet poleward, to favor propagation of height wave 2.