100km/h Burning Man Windstorm Traps 80,000-Person Campers, Forcing 2-Hour Shelter
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 27
100km/h Burning Man Windstorm Traps 80,000-Person Campers, Forcing 2-Hour Shelter
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 27
Summary
100km/h gusts tore through Burning Man before opening day, ripping out tent stakes, flattening neighboring camps and trapping the narrator for two hours inside a small inner tent.
The storm hit while Black Rock City was still being built for 80,000 people, leaving the narrator unable to contact her husband 2km away on an art installation as visibility collapsed into an orange-brown whiteout.
Rob later returned after sheltering in a U-Haul with other builders, then using two masks, ski goggles and his phone compass to navigate back through the dust.
Veteran attendees said 60mph winds are not unusual at Burning Man, but this storm lasted unusually long and struck at a particularly damaging moment for event construction.
Three more severe weather events followed that week, and the narrator said the experience turned a survival ordeal into a lesson in preparation, mutual aid and community.