Drought is a complex natural phenomenon with a wide variety of natural and socioeconomic impacts, including water scarcity, health, agriculture, etc. This study provides a short-term (2000–2019) trend assessment of drought in Hail region, Saudi Arabia, using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and rainfall dataset synchronized by the assessment of the decadal trends of the local land surface temperatures (LST). The NDVI and LST data were obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, while rainfall data were acquired from the Tropical Rainfal Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation database. The impacts of drought on soils and natural vegetation of the region were also considered. Results evidenced that natural vegetation witnessed a prolonged decline between 2000 and 2019, accompanied by a regional increase of the decadal LST trends and decline of rainfall. However, it seems that vegetation communities in this hyper-arid region are of high tolerance to soil salinity and drought. There is a general consensus that drought conditions prevailing in this region reflect the context of climate change prevailing in the region and worldwide.

干旱是一种复杂的自然现象，具有广泛的自然和社会经济影响，包括水资源短缺、健康、农业等。本研究提供了沙特阿拉伯冰雹地区干旱的短期（2000-2019 年）趋势评估，使用通过评估当地地表温度 (LST) 的年代际趋势同步的归一化差异植被指数 (NDVI) 和降雨数据集。NDVI和LST数据来自中分辨率成像光谱仪（MODIS）仪器，而降雨数据来自热带降雨测量任务（TRMM）降水数据库。还考虑了干旱对该地区土壤和自然植被的影响。结果表明，自然植被在 2000 年至 2019 年期间出现了长期下降，伴随着LST年代际趋势的区域性增加和降雨量的下降。然而，这个超干旱地区的植被群落似乎对土壤盐分和干旱具有很高的耐受性。人们普遍认为，该地区普遍存在的干旱状况反映了该地区和全球普遍存在的气候变化背景。