| The improved comprehensive meteorological drought index (CInew) was proposed in view of shortages of comprehensive meteorological drought index (CI) by adding new variables and changing the weight coefficients of variables based on the daily precipitation, daily temperature, meteorological drought index at 4 stations from 2002 to 2012, and soil moisture data from the start of record to 2012. Compared with CI index, applicability characteristics and effects of CInew were analyzed through the descriptions of the drought course, frequency, and intensity. The correlation between the soil moisture data and monitor data from CI and CInew was also analyzed. The results showed that the number of drought days monitored by CInew was fewer than that by CI, especially during spring and summer. Frequency of drought at different levels monitored by CInew was lower by 0.1%～8% than that of CI. Annual average drought intensity by CInew was 64.2 lower than that by CI. However, no statistical significant differences between CI and CInew during drought days were observed on distribution of drought frequency and drought intensity change, both of which could reflect the characteristics of drought frequency and drought intensity variation. The unreasonable jumping times were found to be decreased significantly by CInew monitoring, which coped with CI on the drought abrupt change to weak precipitation and retained sensitivity to heavy rainfall. Correlation coefficient between CInew and soil moisture was 0.9, better than that between CI and soil moisture. Compared with CI index, CInew could objectively reflect the drought degree and the process to evaluate. Hence, CInew could be used as an index for drought monitoring and evaluation in Shaanxi Province. |