Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI)
The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) has been recognized as the most accessible index for quantifying and reporting meteorological drought. On short timescales, the SPI is closely related to soil moisture, while at longer timescales, the SPI can be related to groundwater and reservoir storage. The model uses observed historical precipitation amounts to compute probability distributions which are then normalized using an incomplete gamma function over a range of timescales. The values can be interpreted as the number of standard deviations by which the observed anomaly deviates from the long-term mean. where positive values (greater than zero) result from above average conditions.
- Publisher
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Resources
- 9
- Catalogue metadata updated
- 2026-04-29
Data overview
- Formats
- ESRI REST, GEOTIF, HTML, PDF
- File languages
- English, French
Official sources and licences
Resources
- Agroclimate Interactive Maps (English) (English, HTML) HTML
- Agroclimate Interactive Maps (French) (French, HTML) HTML
- Data Product Specification (English) (English, PDF) PDF
- Data Product Specification (French) (French, PDF) PDF
- Pre-packaged GeoTIF files (No linguistic component) GEOTIF
- Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) (English, ESRI REST) ESRI REST
- Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) (French, ESRI REST) ESRI REST
- Using AAFC Climate Services (English) (English, PDF) PDF
- Using AAFC Climate Services (French) (French, PDF) PDF