Cloud updrafts play a key role in the climate system, but global assessments remain indirect. Doppler velocities from EarthCARE (Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) Cloud Profiling Radar revealed that strong updrafts in tropical convections were most likely when radar echoes reached close to the cloud top, even in moderately tall storms, and they were more frequent over land in the early afternoon. These results provide new benchmarks to improve how numerical models represent convection and cloud microphysics.