Burning Man officially got underway from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada on Sunday. However, a massive dust storm completely engulfed the entire region with more weather on the way.
It looked miserable.
Complete whiteout conditions reduced visibility to less than one foot as early entry crews scrambled to put the finishing touches on the temporary city. The 2025 edition of Burning Man will continue as scheduled but… rain is coming.
What and where is Burning Man?
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. It is the middle of nowhere. Quite literally.
The closest major city, Reno, is located approximately 160 miles south.
This is how Burning Man typically looks from above:
Burning Man from above looks like a whole city 😳
— We Rave You (@weraveyou) August 23, 2025
🎥: cultureofhouse/IG pic.twitter.com/O6fYGJbypM
The event, which apparently does not qualify as a “festival,” is guided by 10 core principles:
- Radical Inclusion
- Everyone is welcome.
- Gifting
- No money is exchanged.
- Decommodification
- There is no advertising, branding or commercial sponsorship.
- Radical Self-reliance
- Only you are responsible for yourself.
- Radical Self-expression
- Be who you are and do so freely.
- Communal Effort
- Collaboration is crucial.
- Civic Responsibility
- Respect the community.
- Leave No Trace
- Clean up after yourself completely.
- Participation
- Spectators are not allowed.
- Immediacy
- Live in the moment.
Participants, called “Burners,” build immersive art installations, offer various workshops, perform anything from fire dancing to improv theater, etc. while in the desert. Burning Man concludes with the burning of “The Man,” a large wooden effigy.
Weather (dust storms and rain) is unpredictable.
Temperatures typically hover between 90º and 100º during the day, dropping down as low as 40º at night. The sun is intense and constant.
Because Burning Man takes place in a literal desert, dust storms can kick up within minutes without any warning. That is exactly what happened on Saturday.
Early entry crews were forced to stop working on this year’s temporary city as they waited for winds to subside. They could not go anywhere if they wanted to.
Shade cloth was torn from structures. The heaviest of gusts were strong enough to bend metal support poles.
Many structures were completely destroyed.
The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for Black Rock City with speeds up to 45 MPH. And if that was not brutal enough, the dusty surface of the Black Rock Desert has been much softer than usual in recent months, which presumably exacerbated the effects of the wind.
People took cover wherever they could.
They could not see more than a few feet in front of them because of the whiteout conditions. If that.
Burning Man 2025. Saturday Dust storm. pic.twitter.com/L6e8eunXKn
— Rockstar (@azburner) August 24, 2025
Fortunately, Starlink satellites continued to work during the storm so organizers were able to run critical communications throughout the afternoon. The rebuild commenced as soon as the winds died down.
Burners were allowed to arrive as scheduled on Sunday morning but there is more weather on the way. Some meteorologist warned of potential monsoon conditions at the beginning of this week, which could completely devastate Black Rock City. Even just an inch of rain will cause flooding. It’s a desert!