Gales etc back towards the front — wind! (7)
I believe the answer is:
wreathe
'wind' is the definition.
(I know that wind can be written as wreathe)
'gales etc back towards the front' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'towards' could be 'at' and 'at' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for wreathe that I've seen before include "Weather (anag.)" , "Twist together" , "Intertwine, curl round" , "Surround, encircle" , "wind" .)