Abstract: Flash droughts uncharacteristically rapid dryings of the land system are naturally associated with extreme precipitation deficits. Such precipitation deficits, however, do not tell the whole story. Land surface drying can be exacerbated by anomalously high evapotranspiration (ET) rates driven, for example, by anomalously high temperatures (e.g., during heatwaves) and/or anomalously high incoming radiation (e.g., from reduced cloudiness). In this study the relative contributions of precipitati…