Using seven reanalyses, we study the movement and drivers of the upper tropospheric–lower stratospheric anticyclone (AC) that forms during the Asian summer monsoon and is debated to be an important pathway for air masses to the stratosphere. We find that the distribution of the AC's centre position, and especially the so-called bimodality, largely depends on the reanalysis. Furthermore, we can connect shifts of the AC to precipitation and convection anomalies over India and the western Pacific.