Downdrafts and cold pool characteristics for mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and isolated, unorganized deep precipitating convection are analyzed using multi-instrument data from the GOAmazon campaign. For both MCSs and isolated cells, there are increases in column water vapor (CWV) observed in the two hours leading the convection and an increase in wind speed, decrease in surface moisture and temperature, and increase in relative humidity coincident with system passage. Composites of vertical velocity data and radar reflectivity from a radar wind profiler show that the downdrafts associated with the sharpest decreases in surface equivalent potential temperature (θ<sub><i>e</i></sub>) have a probability that increases towards lower levels below the freezing level. Both MCSs and unorganized convection show similar mean downdraft magnitudes and probabilities with height. This is consistent with thermodynamic arguments: if θ<sub><i>e</i></sub> were approximately conserved following descent, it would imply that a large fraction of the air reaching the surface originates at altitudes in the lowest 2 km, with probability of lower θ<sub><i>e</i></sub> dropping exponentially. Mixing computations suggest that, on average, air originating at heights greater than 3 km must undergo substantial mixing, particularly in the case of isolated cells, to match the observed cold pool θ<sub><i>e</i></sub>, likewise implying a low typical origin level. Precipitation conditionally averaged on decreases in surface equivalent potential temperature (Δθ<sub><i>e</i></sub>) exhibits a strong relationship because the largest Δθ<sub><i>e</i></sub> values are associated with high probability of precipitation. The more physically motivated conditional average of Δθ<sub><i>e</i></sub> on precipitation levels off with increasing precipitation rate, bounded by the maximum difference between surface θ<sub><i>e</i></sub> and its minimum in the profile aloft. Precipitation values greater than about 10 mm h<sup>−1</sup> are associated with high probability of Δθ<sub><i>e</i></sub> decreases. Robustness of these statistics observed across scales and regions suggests their potential use as model diagnostic tools for the improvement of downdraft parameterizations in climate models.