Based on the long time series (during the period of 1961-2017) of meteorological data from 52 meteorological stations of the Loess Plateau, the spatiotemporal characteristics of reginal drought were analyzed by the standardized precipitation indicate (SPI) and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration indices (SPEI) with 2 time scales. The results showed that (1) during past 57 a, the drought of the study area has presented a significant decrease trend, which indicated the study area being more and more drier. Comparing the result of SPI6 and SPEI6, the SPEI6 index has more drought years than the SPI6 index. This difference is caused by taking the input of evapotranspiration as a variable in SPEI calculation. Despite the characteristics of drought occurred frequently in the Loess Plateau since 1999, the overall trend of drought is still decreasing. (2) The station ratio and drought intensity of SPEI6 and SPI6 both appeared in 1999, but the variation of the station ratio and drought intensity of SPEI6 was more dramatic comparing to SPI6, and there were more years (5 years) of global drought than SPI6 (3 years). Comparing to SPI12, the station number ratio and drought intensity of SPEI12 are more strongly correlated, and both reached their peak in 1966. Although SPEI12 (9 years) has more years of global drought than SPI12 (3 years), the drought intensity of SPI12 higher. (3) In the plain area, the Fenwei Plain is a light drought-prone area, the Hetao Plain and the Ningxia Plain are prone to moderate drought, while the Ningxia Plain is a drought-prone area. Zhongning and Tongxin in the west of the hilly area are prone to severe droughts. There is an extreme drought in Wushen Banner. The frequency of drought is generally higher in mountainous areas, especially in the western mountain area of Wushaoling. (4) The SPEI index is more sensitive to changes in the circulation index and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) is more sensitive to regional droughts. The impact of the indicators is small. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Western Pacific Index (WPI) have direct responses to SPI6 and SPEI6; while Pacific North America Index (PNA) has a small impact on the 6-month-scale drought indicators (SPI6, SPEI6), and has a greater impact on the 12-month-scale drought indicators (SPI12, SPEI12). Regional drought is a complex natural phenomenon. In order to further explore the application of different drought indicators in different regions, the multiple indicators can be used when necessary, and the similarity of multiple drought indicators can be compared from different angles, so as to avoid the limitation of a single indicator to the results.