In the present study we discuss a role of an altitudinal gradient of the meridional thermospheric wind in the behavior of the vertical structure of the F2 layer of the ionosphere, including variations in peak altitude and bottom of the layer, its half-thickness and electron content on a series of fixed heights during the night electron density enhancement of the winter F2 layer. There were analysed the vertical sounding data for the period of 2000-2009. The nighttime observations of the ionosphere were conducted at the Institute of the Ionosphere (Almaty, 76°55&#8242; E, 43°15&#8242; N), using a digital ionosonde. The continuous observation sessions, each lasting more than 10 night hours, provide ionograms with a time resolution of 5 minutes. We selected eighty three sessions of observations. They are characterized by an enhancement in night electron density in peak altitude and quantitative assessment of the behavior of F2 layer parameters can be obtained with good accuracy. Most of these sessions (73 sessions) were characterized by low geomagnetic activity (Ap <15).Regularly observed effect of a time delay of the moment of the layer bottom motion direction reversal relative to the appropriate moment for the layer maximum allowed to conclude that the reversal of the meridional wind directed towards the pole at day by the wind directed toward the equator at night does not occur simultaneously in the entire thickness of the F2 layer, but with a decreasing of an altitude, the reversal of a direction takes place later. This fact allowed to develop a new method for estimating the downward vertical wind-shear node velocity (V) in the meridional thermospheric wind at altitudes of the ionospheric F2 layer. A distribution of V showed that 86% of it laid in the range of 10-50 m/s with the most probable values at 20-30 m/s. This distribution was compared with a distribution of V obtained from the empirical model of thermospheric winds (HWM93). The comparison has shown that their shapes are very close but most probable values are slightly different. In addition in the study we show that divergent vertical wind-shear node, moving progressively downwards, causes fast increase in thickness of F layer and, as a result, the fast diminution of the electron density because of a plasma redistribution inside the increased thickness of the layer.