Abstract: Drought is one of the most commonly occurred natural disasters. With the intensification of human activities and climate change, the production and life of human being have been highly influenced by the frequently occurred drought events. Based on the grid precipitation data with resolution of 0.25°×0.25° in the Hanjiang River Basin from 1961 to 2018, the process, frequency and intensity of meteorological droughts were analyzed at monthly, seasonal, and annual scales by using the standardized precipitation index (SPI). The characteristics of the spatial and temporal evolution of meteorological droughts in the Hanjiang River Basin were then comprehensively investigated. Results indicate that: (1) The SPI value can better reflect the characteristics of meteorological drought variation in the Hanjiang River Basin. With increase in time scale, the magnitude of SPI fluctuation tends to decreases and the stability accordingly increases. The abrupt change points of the meteorological droughts at monthly, seasonal, and annual scale occurred at 1980 and 1988, and 1994, respectively. The significant periodicity of 2 and 4 years were detectable in seasonal and annual meteorological droughts. (2) Since the 1990s, the central region of the Hanjiang River Basin presented an aridification trend while the eastern and the western regions exhibited a humidification trend. For the whole catchment, the frequency of droughts tends to increase in general, with the higher drought intensity occurring in the central region and the lower occurring in the east and west regions. The lower reaches of the Tangbaihe River and the area nearby the Danjiangkou Reservoir showed a significant aridification trend. Meanwhile, the area above the Danjiangkou Reservoir could be characterized with the highest drought frequency and intensity, as well as the more frequently occurring for the light and moderate drought events. (3) The seasonal meteorological droughts are different for different regions. For instance, the area below Danjiangkou reservoir has the most significant trend of autumn drought, the summer droughts are usually in the levels of light drought or moderate drought with a relatively higher frequency, and mainly manifesting in the Tangbaihe area. The autumn drought tends to increase with a higher intensity, mainly occurs in the area above the Danjiangkou reservoir.