Strong, mesoscale tip jets and barrier winds that occur over the ocean near southern Greenland have the potential for impacting deep convection in the ocean. The self-organizing map (SOM) training algorithm was used to identify and classify the range of 10 m wind patterns present during ten winters (1997–2007, NDJFM) in the ECMWF interim reanalysis (ERA-I) and from a regional simulation using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model at 50 km into a SOM. The SOM is used to identify differences in the manifestation of westerly tip jets, easterly tip jets, and barrier ow. The North Atlantic Oscil- lation (NAO) index is well correlated with the type of tip jet present at Cape Farewell, but the NAO was not well cor- related with the absence or presence of barrier ow. WRF simulated patterns with strong barrier-parallel ow more frequently than ERA-I, and WRF also had faster coastal winds than ERA-I during all types of strong wind events. The difference in coastal winds is likely related to model resolution and the resulting ability of each model to simu- late strong mesoscale winds that are driven by Greenland’s steep terrain.