AbstractIn this study, we propose a probabilistic metric, the formative drought rate (FDR), to quantify drought propagation. It is the probability that a meteorological drought in precipitation forms a hydrological drought in streamflow. Drought events were identified based on the standardized precipitation index and streamflow drought index, respectively, at 1‐, 3‐, 6‐ and 12‐month timescales. The method was tested in three river basins in Turkey (Kucuk Menderes, Gediz and Ergene). In each river basin, meteorological stations were coupled with streamflow gauging stations to form pairs of stations depending on their distance from each other and the length of their common record periods. The FDR was calculated across all timescales for each pair of stations. It was found capable to describe the river basin‐specific spatial and temporal variability of drought propagation. As the FDR is defined in the form of probability, it is expected to be a useful metric for quantifying propagation from meteorological to hydrological drought. Thus, it carries a potential for scientific research and practice in water resources management.