Abstract: Along with the intensifying global warming, drought disasters become increasingly serious, which has restricted the sustainable development of the economy and society. In this paper, based on the meteorological data of 30 meteorological stations from 1960 to 2014 in Haihe Basin, China, a comprehensive meteorological drought index was calculated and modified. By using CI index, the drought processes of each station were confirmed one by one, and the occurrence frequencies, scopes, duration and intensity of the meteorological droughts were computed and analyzed to reveal the characteristics of droughts in the Haihe Basin. Results indicated as follows: ( 1)The severity of the drought showed a rising trend, and the occurrence of drought was wide in the Haihe Basin. The drought duration and intensity showed a continuous growth tendency. Droughts occurred in all seasons. Droughts in winters were the worst and the situations in summer were relatively better.(2)Droughts in the Haihe Basin featured a “high frequency-low intensity” and “low frequency-high intensity” spatial distribution characteristics. In space, the drought duration and intensity decreased from south to north. Whereas the annual occurrence frequencies of the meteorological drought decreased from north to south in the Haihe Basin. For the arid area, it is far from enough that the former is confined to the warming and drying, and the occurrence of drought. The innovation point of this paper was to analyze the severity and occurrence of drought by using the modified comprehensive meteorological drought index as the drought index. This paper provided a theoretical basis for the monitoring, assessment and early warning.

Key words: comprehensive meteorological drought, the drought covered area, the Haihe Basin