A physical discussion of vorticity and its change by stretching and tilting is presented. The discussion naturally leads on to the conservation of quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity, q, and the flow associated with anomalies in q. The extension to full potential vorticity (PV) and the associated conservation and inversion properties is made. The use for illustrating and understanding synoptic developments of maps of PV on isentropic surfaces and potential temperature (θ) on PV surfaces is shown by considering two recent examples in the North Atlantic-Europe regions. The first is a summer situation and the second is the major blocking in January 1996. Concluding comments about the role of diabetic processes and other possible uses of these diagnostics are made.