Abstract: Quantitative research on the spatiotemporal variation of drought is of great significance for regional drought monitoring and disaster reduction. Using the meteorological observation data of 26 meteorological stations in Poyang lake basin from 1961 to 2017, spatiotemporal variation of drought is analyzed by means of the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI). The results show that: (1) The Poyang lake basin presents wet in the south and dry in the north, and obvious differences are showed in the four seasons. (2) The annual SPEI of Poyang lake basin shows a significant wetting trend(p<0.05).The four seasons presents a wetting trend, the summer and the winter rises notably(p<0.05). From the perspective of spatial variation, the annual scale of all the stations show a wetting trend, especially in the central and the north. The Poyang lake basin represents a wetting trend except for some stations in the northwest of Ganjiang basin and the eastern of Raohe basin and Xinjiang basin in spring and some individual stations (Dexing、Suichuan and Longnan) in autumn, but there are certain differences in the increase rate and the significant level. (3) There are significant inter-decadal differences in the occurrence of different levels of drought in Poyang lake basin. In addition to the low frequency of drought in the 1990s and the last decade, the frequency of drought in other decades were relatively frequent, especially in the 1960s. (4) The SPEI of Poyang lake basin is positively correlated with precipitation but is negatively correlated with temperature. The correlation between SPEI and precipitation is higher than that of temperature. The change of SPEI is driven by the global scale of Air-Sea Interaction, with a half year lag effect.