"Mariska Keasberry and her crew of builders got to Burning Man in Nevada early this year. As they finished setting up camp - in anticipation of more than 100 people joining their setup in the coming days - they felt proud of their efforts. "In some ways, this felt a little bit like 'Building Man,'" said Keasberry, an Oakland resident who has been going to the festival since 2016 and now co-leads a camp called The Heart Collective."
"Typically, this part of the Black Rock Desert is extremely hot in August, but McEvoy said excessive heat wasn't an issue this year. Instead, multiple days of rain pelted attendees, along with strong winds and a dust storm. But those events were by no means the strongest that Burners have lived through in recent years. In 2023, as much as an inch of rain fell within a 24-hour period, swamping the camps and trapping tens of thousands of attendees in an impassable playa - a situation that drew international attention due to videos posted by high-profile attendees like Diplo."
Burning Man has experienced increasingly extreme and variable weather, including sandstorms, multiple days of rain, near-triple-digit heat, and a major 2023 "mudpocalypse." Camps have been swamped, roads rendered impassable, and tens of thousands of attendees trapped in the playa during heavy rain events. Some attendees now question whether to return as repeated severe conditions erode the festival experience. Organizers and observers note that anthropogenic climate change is likely altering weather patterns on the Black Rock Desert playa, increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events and complicating future planning and safety measures.
Read at Kqed
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