Which meteorological drought indices just use daily data for calculating that index?

Drought can be classified into three types (Dai 2011a): (1) meteorological drought is a period of months to years with below-normal precipitation. It is often accompanied by above-normal temperatures and precedes and causes other types of droughts. (2) Agricultural drought is a period with dry soils that results from below-normal precipitation, intense but less frequent rain events, or above-normal evaporation, all of which lead to reduced crop production and plant growth. (3) Hydrological drought occurs when river streamflow and water storage in aquifers, lakes, or reservoirs fall below long-term mean levels.

Meteorological drought is usually defined as a shortage of precipitation (or moisture supply) over some period of time (e.g. weekly, monthly, seasonal or annual timescales). Definitions of meteorological drought, therefore, are location specific since normal precipitation is a function of the climate. Some definitions of meteorological drought focus on the length of time since the last precipitation event (e.g. number of consecutive dry days), while others focus on the magnitude of the precipitation departure from normal. Just like there are numerous definitions of meteorological drought, there are also numerous meteorological drought indices.

Precipitation has been commonly used for meteorological drought analysis (Pinkeye, 1966; Santos, 1983; Chang, 1991; Eltahir, 1992). Considering drought as precipitation deficitwith respect to average values (Gibbs, 1975), several studies have analyzed droughts using monthly precipitation data. Other approaches analyze drought duration and intensity in relation to cumulative precipitation shortages.The meteorological drought indices need to apply one weather variable or more as input/inputs. As well, in the calculation steps of the meteorological drought indices, pay attention to the time scale. Some of the meteorological drought indices are computing on a daily scale, and others may be in monthly or yearly scales.

There are two important meteorological drought indices that it is essential to use daily data for calculating them, namely EDI (Effective Drought Index) and KBDI (Keetch-Byram Drought Index) more info:KBDI Drought paper. For both of them you should use daily data for calculating the amount of meteorological drought. The EDI is calculated in daily time step and its values are standardized in a similar way with that for calculating SPI values. The KBDI using daily precipitation and daily maximum temperature.