It is well known that a rotor supported by journal bearings has a risk of whirl in high speed rotaional regions. Especially in case of a light weight rotor and/or a short span bearing system, it is important to consider not only the cylindrical mode but also the conical mode stability. This paper describes the effect of conical mode vibration on the stability threshold of herringbone grooved aerodynamic journal bearings. Results show that the stability threshold increased as the offset value of vibration center increased, and the conical stability lower than cylindrical stability in the short span bearing system.