In this study, the ground surface temperature (GST) records from 16 meteorological stations, which are located in or adjacent to permafrost regions on the central Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau (QTP), are analysed using Mann–Kendal test and Sen's slope estimate methods. We revealed that the GSTs have shown statistically significant warming. On average, mean annual ground surface temperature has increased at a rate of 0.60 °C decade⁻¹ over the period of 1980–2007, which is more pronounced than the increase of mean annual air temperature on the plateau. The winter ground surface warming is especially prominent, which is similar to the seasonal trends in changes of air temperature. As important parameters to assess the changes of ground thermal regime in cold regions, surface freezing and thawing indices were also studied. The nonparametric statistic test and estimate indicate that surface freezing and thawing indices both show significant variations (−111.2 and 125.0 °C d decade⁻¹, respectively) on the central QTP. The intensive ground surface warming is responsible for the concurrent increase in permafrost temperatures at the long‐term observation sites on the plateau. The close correlations between ground surface and permafrost temperatures indicate that the dramatic ground surface warming could have significant influence on the change of permafrost thermal regime in the study region. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society