Like a scene from 'Mad Max,' more dust storms cap off Burning Man 2024
In a scene that looked more like Mad Max, this year's Burning Man ended with a bang, or better yet another wild dust storm as revelers made their way out of the desert.
A dust storm tore through Nevada’s Black Rock Desert on the last day of Burning Man, forcing attendees to wait hours for conditions that would allow them to leave.
In a scene that looked more like Mad Max, this year's Burning Man ended with a bang, or better yet another signature wild dust storm as revelers made their way out of the desert. It took some 6 hours for some to exit the event earlier this week, per Burning Man's traffic account on X.
As AccuWeather reported, Burning Man has often been marked by tempestuous dust storms. And when it rains, the so-called playa, the dried lakebed that the desert settlement is built on, can get inundated pretty fast, leading to flash floods.
(Photo credit: Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
In the arid environment of Nevada's Black Rock Desert, conditions can go sideways pretty fast. During Burning Man 2023 some two to three months' worth of rain fell in the span of one weekend, leading to a cavalcade of stranded 'Burners' and their vehicles, not to mention the huge mud pit that formed.
It was a chaotic scene at the Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, as a gusty dust storm caused mayhem to the festivities on Sept. 2.
This year it was back to the momentous dust storms. On Monday afternoon, Burners looking to go home were instead stuck in the desert for hours in near-whiteout conditions, SFGate reported.
"... my partner and I donned the requisite apocalypse gear and biked toward the line. We soon lost our bearings, and the wind blew so hard at times that flying specks of dust stung our bare legs," wrote SFGate's Ashley Harrell, who attended the festival. "There were instances where the dust seemed to hover in the air and we could barely see 5 feet in any direction."
Harrell said conditions started deteriorating Sunday during the festival's famous temple burn, which breaks down the community sanctuary until it rises again the following year. A number of factors cause these winds to strike Burning Man and other desert communities with similar environments.
Remember the playa, that dried lakebed Burning Man is built on? High winds often kick up dust, sending it airborne. According to NOAA, dust storms are common in flat regions with few trees and plants, allowing these winds to build up momentum and send more dust into the atmosphere.
This is why Burners don signature masks, bandannas and bedazzled respirators as they flock to the Nevada desert each year, as they have done since 1990.
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