NASDI: Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for Canadian Agroclimate Since 1980

Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) values for meteorological drought monitoring across Canada's agricultural regions, with a historical record starting in 1980. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada produces this dataset, which was last updated on 2026-05-26. Indices are calculated for multiple timescales (1 to 24 months) using the xclim Python package on historical precipitation records.

Use Cases

• Quantifying meteorological drought severity based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) values.
• Monitoring soil moisture and groundwater storage variations based on SPI correlations at different timescales.
• Analyzing long-term precipitation anomalies and wet/dry conditions across Canadian agricultural regions.
• Modeling agroclimatic trends and risks using the regularly updated NASDI indicator collection.

Strengths

• Historical record provides data from 1980, offering over four decades of temporal coverage.
• Calculations cover eight standardized timescales (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 months) for detailed analysis.
• Produced by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, an authoritative government organization.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to its focus on Canadian regions.

Provenance

Source

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Collection Method

Indices calculated using the xclim Python package from historical precipitation records.

Time Range

Historical record from 1980 onwards

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-26 19:31:15.186237; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canada's agricultural regions