Drought conditions across Cibola have seen significant improvement, going from a near-disaster point for the county in June, to only 0.95 percent of the county being classified as “in drought” as of October 18. Conditions are improving thanks to a large increase in moisture this year. 15.8 percent of people in Cibola are currently affected by drought. This is a 30 percent decrease from last month. The National Integrated Drought Information System has been tracking drought in Cibola since it was founded, and uses historical data to analyze a total of 128 years of drought conditions in the county. This research has found that September 2022 was the 46th driest month on record, September has placed 2022 as the 42nd driest year on record for the Cibola area. Cibola’s drought in May and June caused significant concern for fire personnel across Cibola. At that time, almost all of Cibola County was in “Exceptional Drought,” the most dangerous level of drought recorded by the federal government. This was at the same time the Cerro Bandera Fire was raging in the Zuni Mountains, raising the fear of more dangerous fires in the area. However, significant rainfall in June, July, and August diminished the drought and fire threat. Newley reported data from the NIDIS shows that large portions of Cibola County are no longer in drought, but the county remains abnormally dry.
Current Drought Rating
In September, 41.31 percent of Cibola was in moderate drought, with a small sliver of Cibola not facing drought, but still dry conditions. As of October 18, only 15.83 percent of Cibola is in moderate drought and 0.95 percent is in severe drought. Moderate drought, as described by NIDIS, means that livestock will need additional water and burn bans are put in place. Severe drought means that the growth of irrigated crops will be stunted and wildfire danger is significantly increased. Only the northeastern portion of Cibola, bordering Bernalillo and Valencia counties is facing severe drought.
All of Cibola is suffering through abnormal dryness, meaning that soil moisture is low.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 207 acres of hay are currently in drought across the county. In September, 425 acres of hay were in drought, Cibola has seen a massive improvement in drought conditions.
Haylage has seen a 50 percent decrease in drought conditions across Cibola since September, numbers from October 18 show Cibola only has five acres of haylage in drought. 1,627 cattle, and 479 sheep are currently in drought. This is down from 4,761 and 1,401 respectively.
4,307 residents of Cibola are currently affected by drought. This is a 65.8 percent decrease from August. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 15.8 percent of Cibola is currently affected by drought, a 30 percent decrease from August.
Despite the massive improvement in drought conditions across Cibola, the county is still designated as “in drought” by the USDA.
Drought Data
The National Integrated Drought Information System is a tool used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; a department of the United States known by many as the team who tracks Santa Claus during the Christmas holiday. NIDIS has been tracking drought in the Cibola area since 2006, and they use other historic data and environmental sampling to get a drought reading on years prior, all the way up to 1894. Much of the data
Cibola Citizen utilizes comes from NIDIS, but also NOAA and the US Department of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Statistics Service. These entities supply data for Cibola’s acreage of hay and number of livestock.