Yes, but it is a capricious king and rather than countering it, we must understand it and make of it our ally and accomplice. We faced twice winds stronger than 180 km/h, and could always return home. The main key for that result is to strictly apply the table at page 191 of my book which, in that particular case, means a McCready setting at full scale (5 m/s), giving an L/D below 10, and obviously continuing to fly the positive side of waves. See photo, measured 189 km/h.
If it is desirable that the wind gradient be positive, i.e. the speed increases with altitude, the opposite is sometimes possible and it is necessary to carefully read the clouds in order to reach and “work” them on the right side, if not, the pilot shall pay a heavy penalty, sinking into the could layer, see photo below.
We fly above a solid cloud cover and have to catch these rotors that seem to turn reverse. The wind actually comes from the left, the calculator is infallible, but the gradient is negative and gives the impression that they are combed by a wind coming from the right. The situation is also fairly frequent in Europe.