  This article introduces the R package evgam. The package provides functions
for fitting extreme value distributions. These include the generalized extreme
value and generalized Pareto distributions. The former can also be fitted
through a point process representation. evgam supports quantile regression via
the asymmetric Laplace distribution, which can be useful for estimating high
thresholds, sometimes used to discriminate between extreme and non-extreme
values. The main addition of evgam is to let extreme value distribution
parameters have generalized additive model forms, which can be objectively
estimated using Laplace's method. Illustrative examples fitting various
distributions with various specifications are given. These include daily
precipitation accumulations for part of Colorado, US, used to illustrate
spatial models, and daily maximum temperatures for Fort Collins, Colorado, US,
used to illustrate temporal models.
