Wind stilling‐reversal across Sweden: The impact of land‐use and large‐scale atmospheric circulation changes

Abstract This study analyses for the first time the break in the stilling detected by previous research around 2010, with focus in Sweden using homogenized near‐surface mean and gust wind speed observations for 1997–2019. During the recent past two decades, both mean and gust wind magnitude and frequency (exceeding the 90th percentile) underwent nonlinear changes, driven by the dominant winter variability. In particular, consistent with previous studies, the significant ( p < .05) stilling ceased in 2003, followed by no clear trend afterwards. The detected stilling‐reversal is linked to large‐scale atmospheric circulation changes, in particular to the North Atlantic Oscillation for both mean and gust wind changes, and the intensity changes of extratropical cyclones passing across Sweden especially for wind gusts. Furthermore, in different wind change phases, the observed wind distributio…