Statistical and dynamic diagnostics are combined to study the formation of reflecting surfaces in the Northern Hemisphere stratosphere and their impact on tropospheric waves. A time-lagged singular value decomposition analysis is applied to daily tropospheric and stratospheric height fields recomposed for a single zonal wavenumber. This approach shows time lags at which the covariance between the two fields is maximized and isolates the leading coupled modes between the two fields. A wave geometry diagnostic for wave propagation characteristics which separates the index of reflection into vertical and meridional components is used to diagnose the occurrence of reflecting surfaces. Results from the two types of diagnostics show evidence of reflection for waves of zonal wavenumber 1 during high-winter (January to March, JFM), and not during fall (September to November). Due to large interannual variability during JFM, reflection does not occur during all winter seasons between 1979 -2002, but occurs frequently enough to give a maximum relationship between tropospheric and stratospheric wave 1 fields when the stratosphere is leading by a few days. Both diagnostics, however, show much clearer evidence for reflection and its effect on the troposphere, when we separate the data corresponding to months/seasons with reflective and non-reflective basic states. The analysis of the basic states shows the formation of one characteristic configuration of the stratospheric jet which reflects waves back into the troposphere - when the polar nigh jet peaks in the high latitude mid-stratosphere. This configuration is related to the formation of a reflecting surface for vertical propagation at around 5 hPa as a result of the vertical curvature and a clear meridional waveguide in the lower to middle stratosphere, that channels the reflected wave activity to the high latitude troposphere. The effect of the reflected waves on the tropospheric circulation will also be discussed.