Clausius‐Clapeyron (CC) equation suggests a 6–7% increase in extreme precipitation per degree rise in temperature. Scaling rates of extreme precipitation with temperature at different regions significantly deviate from the CC rate. We find that the daily extreme precipitation scaling is negative over sites in the warmer tropical region of South Asia, as opposed to positive scaling over the cooler subtropics. Daily precipitation scaling tends to break down and becomes negative above a temperature of 23–24°C in all the regions. However, such breakdown disappears for subdaily precipitation extremes, and they continue to increase at high temperatures over both tropics and subtropics. This leads to high positive streamflow‐temperature scaling over small catchments, in contrast to extreme precipitation scaling at a daily scale, which is partly negative. Our analysis highlights an increased threat due to flash flood in a warmer climate, which cannot be fully estimated with the analysis of daily precipitation extremes.

Abstract. Climate models predict an intensification of precipitation extremes as a result of a warmer and moister atmosphere at the rate of 7 % K−1. However, observations in tropical regions show contrastingly negative precipitation–temperature scaling at temperatures above 23–25 ∘C. We use observations from India and show that this negative scaling can be explained by the radiative effects of clouds on surface temperatures. Cloud radiative cooling during precipitation events make observed temperatures covary with precipitation, with wetter periods and heavier precipitation having a stronger cooling effect. We remove this confounding effect of clouds from temperatures using a surface energy balance approach constrained by thermodynamics. We then find a diametric change in precipitation scaling with rates becoming positive and coming closer to the Clausius–Clapeyron (CC) scaling rate (7 % K−1). Our findings imply that the intensification of precipitation extremes with warmer temperatures expected with global warming is consistent with observations from tropical regions when the radiative effect of clouds on surface temperatures and the resulting covariation with precipitation is accounted for.

Temperature extremes have been related to anomalies in large-scale circulation, but how these alter the surface energy balance is less clear. Here, we attributed high extremes in daytime and nighttime temperatures of the eastern Tibetan Plateau to anomalies in the surface energy balance. We find that daytime high-temperature extremes are mainly caused by altered solar radiation, while nighttime ones are controlled by changes in downwelling longwave radiation. These radiation changes are largely controlled by cloud variations, which are further associated with certain large-scale circulations that modulate vertical air motion and horizontal cloud convergence. In addition, driven by a high-pressure system, strengthened downward solar radiation tends to decrease the snow albedo, which then plays an important role in reducing upward solar radiation, especially during winter and for compounding warm events. The results during winter and summer are generally similar but also present significant differences in terms of the contribution of variations in snow albedo, surface turbulent fluxes, and horizontal advection of cloud, which hence need further attention in simulating the high-temperature extreme events in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Our work indicates the importance to attribute different temperature extremes separately from the perspective of energy balance.

Land surface temperatures (LSTs) are strongly shaped by radiation but are modulated by turbulent fluxes and hydrologic cycling as the presence of water vapor in the atmosphere (clouds) and at the surface (evaporation) affects temperatures across regions. Here, we used a thermodynamic systems framework forced with independent observations to show that the climatological variations in LSTs across dry and humid regions are mainly mediated through radiative effects. We first show that the turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat are constrained by thermodynamics and the local radiative conditions. This constraint arises from the ability of radiative heating at the surface to perform work to maintain turbulent fluxes and sustain vertical mixing within the convective boundary layer. This implies that reduced evaporative cooling in dry regions is then compensated for by an increased sensible heat flux and buoyancy, which is consistent with observations. We show that the mean temperature variation across dry and humid regions is mainly controlled by clouds that reduce surface heating by solar radiation. Using satellite observations for cloudy and clear-sky conditions, we show that clouds cool the land surface over humid regions by up to 7 K, while in arid regions, this effect is absent due to the lack of clouds. We conclude that radiation and thermodynamic limits are the primary controls on LSTs and turbulent flux exchange which leads to an emergent simplicity in the observed climatological patterns within the complex climate system.