An analysis of de-seasonalised TOVS satellite data shows an aspect of the effect of the Mount Pinatubo eruption (15th June 1991, 15.14°N, 120.35°E) which has not previously been commented on. A mean tropical temperature increase of around 3–4 K is seen in the 50–30 hPa layer from August 91 to October 91, as seen by previous authors. However, distinct bands of temperature increase are then seen in the subtropics from November 91 until May 92. It is hypothesised that this subtropical signal is a dynamical consequence of the radiative heating increase in the lower tropical stratosphere immediately after the eruption. The hypothesis is tested in a 3D mechanistic middle atmosphere model, with the tropical Pinatubo chemical–radiative aerosol effect on temperature parameterised using a simple direct temperature forcing. It is suggested that the subtropical temperature pattern observed is a result of a tropical–subtropical circulation cell caused by the Pinatubo temperature effect in the tropics.