Abstract: Based on the comprehensive meteorological drought index (CI) calculated from 98 meteorological stations and the MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data from 2000 to 2012 in the Dongting Lake Basin, we analyzed spatial and temporal variations of drought intensity and EVI during growing seasons. We also analyzed spatial distributions of drought intensity and EVI in spring, summer and autumn of typical dry and wet years as well as the correlation between drought intensity and EVI. We aimed to answer the question whether variations in EVI can reveal large-scale meteorological drought events, and to explore the potential of EVI as an indicator of dry and wet conditions in this basin. The results showed that (1) the lowest value of EVI occurred in 2001, 2005 and 2009, while the highest value of drought intensity also appeared in these three years. For drought intensity, high values were mainly distributed in summer and autumn, while low values were present in winter and spring. For EVI, the maximum and minimum values were present in summer and winter, respectively. (2) The drought intensity, EVI and forest coverage that have been corrected for inter-annual and seasonal effects during the growing season showed significant inter-annual fluctuations. The year with high drought intensity was consistent with that with low forest coverage. (3) The spatial distribution of high drought intensity matched well with that of low EVI in typical drought years. The correlation coefficients between drought intensity and EVI in summer and autumn of dry years were statistically significant (P<0.01 and 0.1 for summer and autumn, respectively). (4) The spatial distribution of drought intensity and EVI anomalies did not match in spring, summer and autumn in wet years. No significant correlations were found between drought intensity and EVI anomalies during these time periods. Our results suggested that growth of vegetation can well reflect large-scale meteorological drought in the Dongting Lake Basin.