Cracked mud for illustrative purposes only, it’s only an irrigation ditch at the end of the season, but you get the idea, right?
The last time New Mexico was (by at least one measure) this dry, Billy the Kid was shooting up the state and pueblo crops in the Rio Grande Valley were wilting.
The “one measure” in this case is consecutive dry years on the Rio Grande:
From 1873 to 1883, the Rio Grande experienced four straight dry years, had a break with an average year, then another six dry years in a row, according to University of Arizona professor Connie Woodhouse. Since that time, we haven’t had six dry years in a row until now.