Drought duration is defined from different viewpoints. Estimation methods of drought duration return
period are different in terms of drought duration definition. This paper is aimed to perform six estimation
methods of drought duration return period at Kermanshah station, as a case study. The standardized precipitation
index (SPI) is used to monitor drought based on historical and synthetic series of total precipitation
data in annual and monthly timescales. Probability distribution of drought duration was analyzed for
time series of SPI. Different methods for estimating return period of drought duration on historical and synthetic
time series of SPI were applied. Findings answered two main questions: a) if the length of historical
record was enough to estimate drought return period at the station of interest? b) If the obtained return periods
based on different methods have enough conformity with empirically obtained return period? Results
are discussed in details in this paper.