The study area for this study was Pakistan and period chosen was from 1980-2010.
Precipitation, temperature and economic data was acquired from Pakistan
Meteorological Department and Economic Survey Reports of Pakistan. Keeping in
view the aridity of Pakistan’s climate a threshold value for meteorological drought
definition was chosen based on the literature review. Thurow and Taylor
(1999)concluded in their research that 3/4th departure from normal precipitation
leads to meteorological drought. Precipitation average of282.585mm was used as
the threshold annual precipitation in this paper, based on the value of mean annual
precipitation of Pakistan for the period of 1985-2012 acquired from Pakistan
Meteorological Department. Any area receiving annual precipitation less than
282.585mm would be experiencing meteorological drought in Pakistan. Using
this value, precipitation averages were related and 5drought intensity classes were
formulated in order to emphasize the severity and variations of drought intensity in
Pakistan. The drought classes were presented on Pakistan district map in Arc Map
9.3