Thousands brave wild weather, dust storms for Burning Man in Nevada desert
A violent weekend dust storm wreaked havoc on the annual Burning Man festival as it swept through Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, but organizers reopened gates Monday to festivalgoers amid new threats of wild weather.
News accounts described delays of as long as nine hours Monday for the thousands expected to descend on Black Rock City for the annual communing in the Nevada desert about 120 miles north of Reno. Despite the gusting winds, blinding dust storms, thunderstorms and grinding delays, more than 40,000 people were in attendance by 11:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Thunderstorms and hefty blowing gusts upward of 50 mph like ones that wrecked campsites and installations Saturday and Sunday were expected again Monday and through the rest of week, said Edan Lindaman, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Reno.
Gusts topping 50 mph churned up dust storms over the weekend, Lindaman said, overwhelming campsites, shrinking visibility and threatening to thwart the festival’s opening.
Among the casualties, the immense, interactive Black Cloud installation by Ukraine artist Oleksiy Sai with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute.
Burning Man began Sunday, Ukraine’s independence day. Sunday’s dust storms tore through the installation, meant to symbolize global threats and looming catastrophes, said the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco in a Facebook post.
As Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on, consulate officials in the post found hope in the project’s destruction.
“The storm destroyed the piece but left a quiet hope that the threats were carried away with it,” the Ukraine consulate’s post read. “True independence is not about avoiding storms – it’s about knowing how to rise after each one.”
Burning Man officials said that four minor injuries have been reported as a result of the wind and dust, and the livestream webcast is down, according to the Gazette-Journal.
This story was originally published August 25, 2025 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Thousands brave wild weather, dust storms for Burning Man in Nevada desert."
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