Spatial and temporal fluctuation of rainfall and drought in Balochistan province, Pakistan

Drought is a multifaceted hydro-meteorological phenomenon that occurs due to a reduction in the amount of rainfall which increases complexity as well as scarcity in arid to semi-arid region. This research presented fluctuation in rainfall and analyzed drought conditions in Balochistan province using the standardized precipitation index (SPI). The six meteorological station (Met stations) data of rainfall were collected from the concerned stations. The data consists of 33 years of rainfall observations (1986–2018). For the data normality, skewness was applied and the results showed positive skewness at all station records with the highest variability in Kalat and Barkhan. The Mann–Kendall trend was applied on both 1-month and 12-month SPI data to assess the trend in the SPI results. In Balochistan, the SPI results detected two distinct driest drought intervals, i.e., 1998–2002 and 2014–2018. The MKT test results detected negative trend in the results of 1-month SPI at most of the selected stations with more significant results in Dalbandin. The January recorded a slight increase in rainfall in almost all weather stations with significant trend. Furthermore, the MKT results of the 12-month SPI deduced a significant positive trend in Dalbandin. Finally, the results revealed frequent drought events and it is expected that it may increase in the future.