Burning Man Forecast Raises Alarm Over Potential “Monsoon-Type” Weather

Burning Man organizers and attendees are bracing for potential weather complications at this year’s event, scheduled for August 24th through September 1st in the Nevada desert.

The National Weather Service has warned of a “monsoon-type pattern” that is expected to develop across northern Nevada, with showers and thunderstorms possible during the festival’s opening days. That’s according to Mark Deutschendorf, a meteorologist at the weather service’s office in Reno, who told SFGATE that attendees could find themselves navigating “hazardous conditions.”

“As soon as Sunday and Monday, we are expecting rain, showers and thunderstorms to occur, and if they do hit the desert, that could produce some hazardous conditions, muddy conditions, which would affect travel into the site, both by air and by ground,” Deutschendorf said.

Given Burning Man’s unique location on an ancient lake bed in the desert, even moderate rainfall could prove troublesome. The forecast currently calls for rain from August 24-27, raising questions about whether Black Rock City’s notoriously fragile surface will hold up under pressure.

For many Burners, the warnings bring back sharp memories of 2023, when an unexpected downpour left tens of thousands stranded in Black Rock City. That storm forced organizers to issue an emergency shelter-in-place order, urging attendees to conserve food, water and fuel. Camps were flooded, large-scale art installations were canceled, bicycles became useless, and driving was temporarily banned after the playa effectively devolved into a giant mud pit.

This year’s early forecast does not guarantee a repeat of 2023, but it underscores the precarious balance between the desert environment and the event’s massive infrastructure. As one Burner put it in an online forum: “Some rain, okay. Too much rain, bad.”

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