Trends (1961Trends ( -2003 in daily maximum and minimum temperatures, extremes and variance were found to be spatially coherent across the Asia-Pacific region. The majority of stations exhibited significant trends: increases in mean maximum and mean minimum temperature, decreases in cold nights and cool days, and increases in warm nights. No station showed a significant increase in cold days or cold nights, but a few sites showed significant decreases in hot days and warm nights. Significant decreases were observed in both maximum and minimum temperature standard deviation in China, Korea and some stations in Japan (probably reflecting urbanization effects), but also for some Thailand and coastal Australian sites. The South Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ) region between Fiji and the Solomon Islands showed a significant increase in maximum temperature variability.Correlations between mean temperature and the frequency of extreme temperatures were strongest in the tropical Pacific Ocean from French Polynesia to Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and southern Japan. Correlations were weaker at continental or higher latitude locations, which may partly reflect urbanization.For non-urban stations, the dominant distribution change for both maximum and minimum temperature involved a change in the mean, impacting on one or both extremes, with no change in standard deviation. This occurred from French Polynesia to Papua New Guinea (except for maximum temperature changes near the SPCZ), in Malaysia, the Philippines, and several outlying Japanese islands. For urbanized stations the dominant change was a change in the mean and variance, impacting on one or both extremes. This result was particularly evident for minimum temperature.The results presented here, for non-urban tropical and maritime locations in the Asia-Pacific region, support the hypothesis that changes in mean temperature may be used to predict changes in extreme temperatures. At urbanized or higher latitude locations, changes in variance should be incorporated.

The numbers of warm nights and hot days, across most of the east Asia – west Pacific region, increase substantially in the year after the onset of an El Niño event. The number of cool days and cold nights tend to decrease, although the relationship with El Niño is weaker for these variables. The relationship is confounded, for warm nights and hot days, by a strong increasing trend in the numbers of extremes not matched by a trend in the El Niño. Removal of this trend leads to even stronger correlations with the El Niño. Strong correlations exist between some of the extremes indices and an index of the El Niño – Southern Oscillation in months prior to the occurrence of the extremes, indicating that predictions of the frequency of extreme temperatures across the region should be feasible.

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