2016 Playa Conditions

[peachandpapa]

Could anyone give me an update on playa conditions? Hoping the winter snow pack and rain will equate to a hard packed playa!

[Chowski]

Hot! It's going to be hot during the day, with lots and lots of sun. There will also be crazy dust storms. Hours long. At night, temperatures will dip, with a chance of dust storms. Cold nights.

The ground will be packed. In areas. Powdery in others. With lots of dust and heat. And cold. And sometimes cold and dust.

It may also rain.

[TT120]

Sounds like the Hippy dippy weatherman with your hippy dippy weather, man.

[lucky420]

Was out there memorial weekend and the playa was in most excellent condition!

[peachandpapa]

Thanks Lucky420! I have an MV with small tires and playa drifts make it very hard to get around.

[golgotha-a-go-go]

Any reports from last weekend's 4th of Juplaya attendees?

[lucky420]

Friends went, said it looked good

[Captain Goddammit]

Thanks Lucky420! I have an MV with small tires and playa drifts make it very hard to get around.

Sounds like it's time to make a little upgrade.

[ygmir]

One thing's for sure! : Nothings for sure!

[motskyroonmatick]

I was out there several weeks ago and the 3:00 side looked .... Honestly .... Just a little bit more crusty and dry than last year. Dunes present at last years event were visible and had not been spread out by the winter wind blown roving lake. Of course my memory may be skewed. It's not stopping me though and we're going to be setting up camp in our spot with smiles no matter what the ground conditions. As far as tires.... Definitely recommend wide and tall or just wide. Better to go over than around.

[Just_Joe]

Come see for yourself!
http://blackrockdesert.org/guru-road-restoration-2016/

I'll be encamped at the Three Mile playa entrance this weekend Sat AM-Sun AM.
Maybe a Gerlach Pub Crawl in the evening?

[Raoul]

I'll be encamped at the Three Mile playa entrance this weekend Sat AM-Sun AM.

Watch out for all the bugs.

[Bless]

so fresh and so clean

[ygmir]

1381562_10151945549787372_1046640465_n.jpg

indeed

[Roundabout]

I was there 2 weekends ago, and playa conditions looked great.

Lots of black rocks were lying around on the surface of the Black Rock Desert.

[Jackass]

Looks good from where I'm sitting...

IMG_0523.JPG

[knobdyspcl]

I was there 2 weekends ago, and playa conditions looked great.

Lots of black rocks were lying around on the surface of the Black Rock Desert.

I've got to ask, curiosity did try to kill the cat... No, not the rover, the emotion... what's the make up of the black rocks?

[mgb327]

Ummmm....stone?

[Just_Joe]

Ummmm....stone?

Correct!
Why it's called Black Rock Desert:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rock_Range

I just returned. Playa is in great shape. Hard packed with the usual fluff on the 3 o'clock side. When I left this afternoon the BRC site was not visible from the road due to dust storms.

Who in the hell left the burn barrel on the Esplanade at 4ish??

[maladroit]

Long range forecast is looking good. Daytime highs maybe 5-10 degrees warmer than last year's daytime temps (so expect 90ish in the shade), but nighttime lows closer to 50 which is great (got down to 33F one night last year). May be a couple of cloudy days with sprinkles.

[Token]

Any weather forecast beyond 5 days ... Sketchy.

Even the big supercomputer models like GFS and ECMF are marginal past 10 days and drop below 50% accuracy. And those are models, not forecasts.

Now climate outlook is good through 15 days, usable through 30 days and somewhat speculative for 3 months.

NOAA has long term 30 day guidance for a 50-60% chance of higher than normal temperature for that region. Search for "Climate Prediction Center" to see the pretty pictures.

[Just_Joe]

I'm heading up for a three night thing on Thursday. I'm expecting hot, dry and windy.
We haven't had any precip for 57 days now, so all the cars are going to be creating some dust.

I'm about 120 miles south and 600' higher, but pretty much the same climate as the playa.
If anyone is interested in my data, I have graphs with temp, pressure, dew point and humitity here:
http://www.carsonweather.com/modules/wx/graphs.htm

[fernley1]

Was out there today. Real nice playa conditions.

[QueenFrostine]

Could anyone give me an update on playa conditions? Hoping the winter snow pack and rain will equate to a hard packed playa!

Just lurking ePlaya for this info and of course you are the source of the question and the answer @peachandpapa. *low five*

With the strength of genetic brain waves and over-preparedness-due-to-a-social-issue-that-makes-us-feel-like-everybody's-parents OUR POWERS COMBINE!

[Jackass]

If the extended forecast holds true, then this years temps should be fairly nice!

That doesn't include the "playa factor" though...

Now for all agencies forecasting: There is no permanent weather station in Gerlach. Closest station is on a peak South-East of town at high altitude. All forecasts for that area are extrapolated via data from Alturas and Lovelock. You do need to add the Playa Correction Factor to get sensible value from Wunderground, Accuweather, NOAA, etc.

PCF: Wind +10; Temp - High: +5; Temp - Low(hot) +5; Temp - Low(cold) -5

The PCF is my own observation and opinion from empirical data collected over the years.

[Just_Joe]

Very few clouds. 97-99 degree afternoons and 50ish at sunrise. Glorious.
Winds were almost non existent the last 4 days except for a little blow yesterday afternoon of ~20mph at sunset
Playa is nice where we were. I didn't make it into the BRC site, 6 miles south.
All systems are go with mini ABC blocks, Aluminet shade and Kodiak tent!

[EGAZ]

......97-99 degree afternoons and 50ish at sunrise. Glorious.

If this holds, It truly will be glorious!! Fingers Crossed!!

[ZigZag]

Very few clouds. 97-99 degree afternoons and 50ish at sunrise. Glorious.
Winds were almost non existent the last 4 days except for a little blow yesterday afternoon of ~20mph at sunset
Playa is nice where we were. I didn't make it into the BRC site, 6 miles south.
All systems are go with mini ABC blocks, Aluminet shade and Kodiak tent!

I've been thinking about you out there. How were the Persieds? Were they amazing?

[Just_Joe]

Very few clouds. 97-99 degree afternoons and 50ish at sunrise. Glorious.
Winds were almost non existent the last 4 days except for a little blow yesterday afternoon of ~20mph at sunset
Playa is nice where we were. I didn't make it into the BRC site, 6 miles south.
All systems are go with mini ABC blocks, Aluminet shade and Kodiak tent!

I've been thinking about you out there. How were the Persieds? Were they amazing?

Thursday night was the best. It was just myself and another couple. After setting up camp in the daytime heat, I took a short nap and woke just before the sun went down. We set up loungers and cots and waited for the show. Because the moon up, the sky stayed pretty bright, but was still magnitudes better than down here in Reno. We'd see one every minute or so, but the sky is so big, I'm sure many were missed. By the time the moon set at ~1:30AM, the show was in full swing. It's hard to describe how amazing the sky can be in such a removed part of the country. I guess "amazing" is pretty close Once full dark was on, we started to see much smaller meteors. I fell asleep but woke up 3 or 4 times during the night. Each time I awoke I saw a couple more before falling asleep again.
Friday night we saw far fewer, but still a good show.
By Saturday night everyone had arrived and socializing ended up taking precedence over stargazing. I'm not sure I looked up once...

[dustyfux]

Thanks for the pic, it gives a great view of the surface. Do you recall the temps around midnite?