Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is an important remote sensing parameter, it can accurately reflect the degree of vegetation and vegetation growth status, biological, physical, and chemical properties; and the changes in ecological system parameters. Based on its sequence data, it is also used as a bioclimatic character in large vegetation areas and for basic land cover classification. Vegetation cover changes in Hubei in 2001-2012 were analyzed using moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) NDVI data. The maximum value composites, trend analysis, and linear regression analysis were used to analyze the annual and monthly NDVI changes of different vegetation types and to characterize the temporal and spatial vegetation cover changes and their relationship with temperature and precipitation. The results showed that vegetation cover was good in most regions of Hubei Province:the NDVI value was the highest (0.82) for the northwest regions and was the lowest (0.13) for the central urban regions. In general, the yearly mean NDVI increased from 2001 to 2012 at a rate of 1%/10 a. A constant area accounts for 92.8% of the total vegetation coverage, which is consistent with the trend of China's central region vegetation change. Precipitation had a crucial effect on the inter-annual variation of NDVI. The relationships of NDVI across different months during the growing season to temperature and precipitation over 12 recent years indicated that there was an obvious difference in the effects of temperature and precipitation on NDVI among different months in the growth season, and response of NDVI to the climate factors was lagged.