Annually dated ice cores from Siple Dome, West Antarctica, and central Greenland indicate that meridional atmospheric circulation intensity increased in the polar South Pacific and North Atlantic at the beginning (similar to 1400 A.D.) of the most recent Holocene rapid climate change event, the Little Ice Age (LIA). As deduced from chemical concentrations at these core sites, the LIA was characterized by substantial meridional circulation strength variability, and this variability persists today despite strong evidence for an end to LIA cooling. Thus, increased late 20th century storm variability may be in part a result of the continuation of these climatic fluctuations.