Abstract While it is well‐established that Zonal Wave Three (ZW3) can drive regional expansion or contraction of Antarctic sea ice, it is unclear whether it has an effect on circumpolar total sea ice area (SIA). Here, we provide evidence to challenge previous studies’ attribution of large overall Antarctic SIA decreases to ZW3. We show that the circumpolar‐mean relationship between ZW3 and SIA tendencies is weak due to mostly offsetting meridional wind anomalies and associated opposing sea ice responses. This is despite moderately‐strong, positive and significant local meridional wind‐sea ice relationships prevailing along the ice‐edge. Furthermore, relationships between circumpolar‐mean meridional winds and total SIA become weak and can even reverse in some months. An idealized stochastic model reproduces this behavior under specific conditions where local meridional wind anomalies do not completely cancel out and local SIA responses to wind‐forcing vary in strength.