Silicon Valley’s favorite festival, Burning Man, was hit by a massive dust storm that disrupted the travel plans of thousands of its participants.
On Monday, the last day of the week-long desert festival, a dust storm reduced visibility to just five feet at the San Francisco Gate at the event in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. informed.
X Account Burning Man Traffic said Those leaving the venue on Tuesday can expect waiting times of up to six hours.
“Dust in Black Rock City is causing white-outs,” it said in a separate PostAlso on Tuesday. “Please remain in your camp until the situation improves.”
Burning Man is an annual music festival known as a hot spot for Silicon Valley’s ultrarich and Instagram influencers, who pay thousands to attend.
The festival initially began as an annual music and arts festival in San Francisco before moving to its desert location at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada in 1991.
By the mid-1990s, it began to gain traction Attention of the tech elite Such as Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
This year, hundreds of charter and private planes Touched down at the temporary airport In the desert, which is only open for two weeks for the festival. A spokesperson told BI that on peak days, the airport handles around 500 takeoffs and landings per day.
However, this year’s ticket sales, which usually sell out before the festival’s opening day, were unexpectedly low. Tickets were still available for the event ahead of its first day on CBS, August 25 informed.
The dust storm is not the first time the event has witnessed bad weather.
This comes as the last two cycles of the festival Wet from stormy weather. Participants shared stories of flooded tents and porta-potties in 2023.
DJ Diplo documented his journey leaving the event in 2023, walking six miles in mud to his private jet to fly to Washington, DC.
Exodus from the phenomenon has been documented to be notoriously slow and difficult.
Due to the limited number of vehicles that can leave Black Rock City on Country Route 34 per hour, exiting participants often face long waits, the event’s website states.
At press time, the annual exodus appeared to be back on track.
It takes about 20 minutes to get out of Black Rock City. Exodus continues and conditions are good,” the Burning Man Traffic X account posted Tuesday night.
Burning Man’s press team did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment, which was sent outside business hours.
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