In this study, the Noah land surface model used in conjunction with the Mellor–Yamada–Janjic ́ surface layer scheme (hereafter, Noah-MYJ) and the Noah multiphysics scheme (Noah-MP) from the Weather Research and Fore- casting (WRF) 4.5.1 mesoscale model are evaluated with re- gard to their performance in reproducing positive tempera- ture gradients over forested areas in the Arctic winter. First, simplified versions of the WRF schemes, recoded in Python, are compared with conceptual models of the surface layer in order to gain insight into the dependence of the temper- ature gradient on the wind speed at the top of the surface layer