 On a thick cloudy night convection has stopped and the air is calm. No advection moving air from one location to another. The surface temperature does not drop. The mass of the atmosphere has not changed. The surface is not receiving any new solar energy to maintain its temperature but yet it does not change. If you look at the net IR (Upwelling IR minus Downwelling IR) under these conditions you see that the net IR is close to zero. The surface is not losing any energy as all the energy emitted by it is returning. Energy IN equals Energy OUT and the surface maintains an equilibrium temperature. I think that is enough to at least poke a major hole in what you believe to be a valid conjecture. 