The Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra State has made headlines every time India has experienced a dry season. Ahmednagar is one of the areas most likely to have a meteorological dry spell due to its location and the recent lack of rainfall in comparison with the national average. The study seeks to appropriately reflect the severity of climatic dry seasons and their influence on crop productivity and food security. It examines using historical data from 1981 to 2021 to assess the accuracy and sufficiency of various drought indexes, including the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI). Specific precipitation data is the primary indicator used to assess the severity of meteorological dry seasons. In this study, the RDI and SPI indicators were determined initially for 1, 3, 6, and 12 months, followed by the times of occurrences and their greatest values of these indices. Additionally, the duration of dry spells defined by values smaller than − 1 was calculated. In addition, the longest duration, the time of events and the number of dry spells, for these indices in various time series were calculated. The findings revealed that, when compared to the SPI, a lower RDI value (− 2) is estimated for categorization in similar months. Furthermore, the number of months classified as extremely dry for the RDI is larger than the SPI, whereas the occurrence frequency of months with values less than − 0.5 for the SPI is larger than RDI. The findings revealed that both indices behave similarly, but RDI is more sensitive because it considers potential evapotranspiration under similar meteorological conditions. It emphasizes the significance of monitoring and measuring drought conditions for better planning, resource allocation, and reducing the impacts of drought on rural settings.