Wild dust storm wreaks havoc at Burning Man festival as campsites blown away, traffic delays pushed to 8 hours

A powerful dust storm wreaked havoc on Nevada’s annual Burning Man festival over the weekend, tossing around early attendees’ campsites and trapping incoming Burners in up to eight hours of stop-and-go traffic.

The National Weather Service issued warnings about the storm in advance, noting it would bring in a fast-moving “wall of blowing dust.” But by Saturday, Burners were already descending on Black Rock City.

The advisory carried over into Sunday as more revelers trickled in, having been stalled by the previous evening’s bout.

Ahead of the storm, celebrants tried their best to salvage their belongings and piled into any RVs with open space to take shelter. As the raging winds and dust blew through the desert festival grounds, the Burners watched helplessly through the RV windows as their temporary abodes flew away.

Wild video captured by people on site showed multiple men covered in dust trying to weigh down metal poles, when they are nearly dragged away by the wind.

The winds reached a staggering 45 mph for a “sustained period of time,” a spokesperson for the festival told SFGate.

Attendees’ campsites were leveled while full structures and sculptures that were part of the festival’s art scene were destroyed. One towering piece ruined was the “Black Cloud,” an 8-ton inflatable sculpture made by a group of Ukrainian artists that was intended to symbolize the threat of global war.

On Sunday night, Burning Man organizers took extra precautions and closed the gates to Black Rock City, preventing anyone from going in or out until the worst of the storm blew over. Flights to and from the area were also halted as officials strongly urged everyone to stay off the roads.

By early Monday morning, the gates were reopened and flights resumed. Dedicated Burners were up early, repairing their camps and helping retrieve lost belongings.

With so many delayed attendees flooding the festival, the 8-mile playa leading up to the grounds was stalled by six to eight hours of traffic, festival organizers said in a statement Monday.

While the worst of the weather is over, Burners still aren’t in the clear.

Thunderstorms are supposed to roll over Black Rock City between Monday evening and Wednesday, according to AccuWeather. The NWS additionally warned of a “monsoonal moisture” that could spark “minor flooding” through Nevada until Thursday.

Yet in the past, a little rain hasn’t stopped Burners from getting up to their usual debauchery that typically results in more than 1,000 reported injuries by the end of the nine-day festival.

During the 2023 festival, heavy rain turned the famed grounds into a glorified mud pit as attendees had to shelter in place. One death was reported in the chaos.

At last year’s event, one Burner was nearly paralyzed, but is making her return to the campgrounds for the ninth time this year.

At least one arrest has been reported thus far. A man was caught trying to smuggle heaps of mushrooms, LSD and crack into the festival and quickly taken into police custody.

The festival, which runs through Sept. 1, draws a staggering 70,000 attendants each year.