Abstract: To analyze the characteristics of precipitation and their influences on drought and flood in Shaanxi, according to the precipitation data from 18 meteorological stations in recent 53 years, we calculated the Z index of each meteorological station and regional drought and flood index, and then analyzed the temporal and spatial variations and the frequency of drought and flood of precipitation from 1961 to 2013 by utilizing the methods of climate tendency rate, Mann-Kendall mutation test and inverse distance weighted interpolation. The results showed that: the annual precipitation in Shaanxi had a decreasing trend on the whole and developed by the decrease-increase-decrease-increase pattern; with the change of seasons, the largest increase occurred in summer at a rate of 35.44 mm/10 a, precipitation in autumn decreased at a rate of 58.71 mm/10 a; due to its geographical location, land and sea distance and other factors, the spatial distribution of precipitation decreased successively in southern Shaanxi, Guanzhong and northern Shaanxi. According to the statistics of Z index, the flood frequency was greater than the drought frequency, but the flood intensity was weaker than that of drought. Drought occurred in four seasons and was most serious in winter, the flood frequency showed an increasing trend from north to south in Shaanxi, the distribution of drought was uneven and it was opposite to the spatial distribution of precipitation. This study lays a foundation for providing prevention measures to drought and flood disasters in Shaanxi.