Cold and windy weather forecast on eve of Burning Man

A year after Burning Man turned into a mud pit, unusual weather is expected to roll in on the eve of the festival.

But forecasters say the worst of the cold, windy conditions will have passed by the time the gates open Sunday, Aug. 25, at the Black Rock Desert.

Like the Bay Area and the Sierra, northern Nevada will see unusual weather for August on Friday and Saturday. The Burning Man site will be under a red-flag warning until 10 p.m. Friday, with gusts of up to 40 mph. Highs Friday and Saturday will be in the 60s, and overnight lows in the 40s; there will be a chance of showers on Saturday.

On Sunday, though, the playa forecast is sunny with highs in the 70s, and by Tuesday the weather will be what most festivalgoers hope for: highs in the 90s, lows in the 50s, winds around 10 mph.

The counterculture gathering ends on Labor Day, Sept. 2.

Last year, heavy rains moved in on the sixth of the event’s nine days; the playa was ankle-deep mud and tens of thousands of people were stranded, unable to drive out. Latecomers arriving for the last weekend were turned around by rangers from the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Black Rock Desert.

This year’s theme is Curiouser & Curiouser. The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that tickets were still available Thursday and prices on resale sites were half face-value. The two post-pandemic celebrations drew about 75,000 participants each.