Arctic ClimateWind
In winter, surface wind speeds tend to be lower than one might expect given the paucity of trees and mountains. This occurs because the inversion that dominates winter weather decouples the surface wind from stronger winds aloft. Also coastal temperature gradients are weaker in the winter than summer, due to the presence of sea ice rather than open water.
In summer, inversions are less frequent and weaker. Furthermore, long days melt sea ice and warm the land, which increases the temperature contrast across coastal zones. This leads to more frequent cyclones and higher coastal winds. As a result, surface winds increase in the summer.