Typically, Arctic winds are light. Strong winds occur more often along the coastal areas in autumn and winter. Wind speeds are generally light in the continental interior throughout the entire year but are normally at their strongest during summer and autumn.

In winter, air masses form over the expanded ice pack and adjoining snow-covered land areas. These air masses are characterized by very cold surface air, very low humidity, and strong low-level temperature inversions. Occasionally, air from unfrozen ocean areas flows northward over the Arctic. These intrusions of moist, cold air account for most of the infrequent wintertime cloudiness and precipitation in the Arctic.

During the summer, the top layer of the Arctic permafrost layer melts, leaving very moist ground, and the open water areas of the Polar Basin increase markedly. Thus, the entire area becomes more humid, relatively mild, and semi-maritime in character. The largest amounts of cloudiness and precipitation occur inland during the summer months.

Occluded fronts are the rule. Weather conditions with occluded fronts are much the same in the Arctic as elsewhere: low clouds, precipitation, poor visibility, and sudden fog formation. Fronts are much more frequent over coastal areas than over the interior.

Several Arctic phenomena are peculiar to the region.

The Arctic experiences frequent low-level temperature inversions, which occur when temperature increases with height (i.e., cold air settled near the ground with warm air directly above). Inversions can slow down surface winds and trap pollutants, creating smoggy and hazy conditions that persist until the inversion ends. In addition, light rays are bent as they pass at low angles through the inversion, creating an effect known as looming, which is a form of mirage that causes objects beyond the horizon to appear above the horizon. These low-level inversion mirages distort the shape of the Sun, Moon, and other objects.

Far more light is reflected by snow-covered surfaces than by darker surfaces. Snow often reflects Arctic sunlight sufficiently to blot out shadows, thus decreasing the contrast between objects. Dark, distant mountains may be easily recognized, but a crevasse, normally directly in view, may be undetected due to lack of contrasts.

Illumination from the Moon and stars is much more intense in the Arctic than in lower latitudes. Even illumination from the stars creates visibility far beyond that found elsewhere. Only under heavy overcast skies does the night darkness in the Arctic begin to approach the degree of darkness in lower latitudes.

Weather hazards include visibility-restricting phenomena such as blowing snow, icing, frost, and lack of contrast (e.g., whiteout).

Fog occurs when water droplets or ice particles are suspended in the air at the Earth’s surface. Water-droplet fog occurs in coastal areas during the summer. Ice fog (also called ice-crystal fog, frozen fog, frost fog, frost flakes, air hoar, rime fog, and pogonip) is a type of fog formed by direct freezing of supercooled water droplets. Ice fog is composed of suspended particles of ice made, in part, from ice crystals 20–100 microns in diameter but chiefly (especially when dense) made from ice particles about 12–20 microns in diameter. It occurs at very low temperatures and usually in clear, calm weather in high latitudes. The Sun may cause the appearance of a halo. Effective visibility is reduced considerably more when looking toward the Sun. Ice fog is rare at temperatures warmer than -30°C and increases in frequency with decreasing temperature.