In most large-scale MHD models of Earth’s space environment, coupling between the magnetosphere and the ionosphere-thermosphere (IT) is addressed by representing the latter as a two-dimensional spherical shell. Similarly, most empirical models of IT electrodynamics are based on solving the height-integrated ionospheric Ohm’s law on a spherical shell. We show that there is in general no single suitable definition of the neutral wind term in high-latitude, height-integrated IT electrodynamics. Instead, two neutral wind terms weighted by Hall and Pedersen conductivities appear. We show that a commonly used expression for Joule heating in terms of height-integrated quantities is a lower bound of the actual Joule heating. Using neutral wind profiles derived from sounding rocket chemical release experiments near Poker Flat, Alaska, and Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR) measurements, we find differences of order 10–100 m/s between the two neutral wind terms.