Hunan is a region prone to drought disasters. Conducting an analysis of the characteristics and causes of drought events is of great practical significance for improving the monitoring and prediction level of drought disasters in Hunan and reducing disaster losses. Based on daily precipitation data from ground observation stations and reanalysis data, the characteristics and causes of persistent extreme drought events that occurred in Hunan in the summer, autumn and winter of 2022/2023 are analyzed. The results indicate that the continuous drought in the summer, autumn and winter of 2022/2023 in Hunan has the characteristics of significantly less precipitation (The average accumulated precipitation in the whole province was the least in the same period since 1961) and a long duration (201 days). And in the summer of 2022, there was also a rare extremely high temperature heatwave throughout the entire Yangtze River basin, with multiple indicators such as average temperature and high temperature days in Hunan reaching historical extremes since 1961, which had a serious impact on industrial and agricultural production and people’s lives in Hunan. The ongoing drought event in summer, autumn and winter is closely related to sea surface temperature and circulation anomalies. In the early spring, the La Niña event and the negative phase mode of the Indian Ocean dipole led to the enhancement of the Walker circulation, and the west Pacific subtropical high (referred to as the “WPSH”) strengthened and extended westward and uplifted northward. From August to November 2022, the WPSH extended westward to 105°E, and the Hunan region was controlled by it, the prevailing downdraft led to the development of drought in summer and autumn in Hunan. From December 2022 to early February 2023, the WPSH was weaker compared to the same period in previous years, and the East Asian trough was strengthened and its location was east of Hunan, making it difficult to guide cold air southward to affect Hunan. The Indian-Myanmar trough was weaker, which was not conducive to the development of southwest airflow in front of the trough. The water vapor transport over Hunan region was hindered, leading to sustained drought in winter in Hunan.