North / South?

theBrooke · Post by **theBrooke** » Thu May 20, 2004 10:49 am

I'm wondering just how the city is situated in relation to true North. Last year I saw a breakdown of all the surveying work and it told which street lied on the north south line... It could be night when we get there and I want to have my bearings to avoid having to reset up Tuesday morning. I have a whole crazy plan to avoid sun hitting my tent and turning it into an e z bake oven at 7:30am but an important part is knowing where to place things... obviously.

Help?

B.

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu May 20, 2004 10:53 am

Actually, the whole city is tipped up on its edge, like a spinning coin.

theBrooke · Post by **theBrooke** » Thu May 20, 2004 11:01 am

Oohhhhh I see...

No I don't.

?

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu May 20, 2004 11:07 am

I'm just being facetious. 6:00 runs north/south. 3:00/9:00 (the promenades) run east/west. Does this help?

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Thu May 20, 2004 11:15 am

a cheap camping compass can be super helpfull.

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu May 20, 2004 11:23 am

It most certainly can, especially on, say, sunday night when you no longer have a giant neon navigating beacon.

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Thu May 20, 2004 11:25 am

Ranger Genius wrote:It most certainly can, especially on, say, sunday night when you no longer have a giant neon navigating beacon.

aww, you take all the fun out of it!

theBrooke · Post by **theBrooke** » Thu May 20, 2004 1:31 pm

Yeah, I know a compass... I probably wouldn't be able to find it when needed but thanks for the infomation. Who would've thought they'd situate the city just so? 6:00 through the man is north south, easy enough. Here's another question for you navigating types reading this... What is the approximate latitude and longitude of BRC?

Thanks for the help

B.

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu May 20, 2004 1:54 pm

-119 14 11.105358W
40 45 17.162029N

Approximate enough for you?

RingO'Fire · Post by **RingO'Fire** » Thu May 20, 2004 3:07 pm

What is the prevailing wind direction out on the playa?

I know I read this somewhere here on the eplaya, maybe in the "structures" thread, but I can't find it now. This seems like important info to have when setting up my camp so that I can arrange things (car, tents,etc.) to block/shed the prevailing wind. Thanks

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu May 20, 2004 3:15 pm

From the Black Rock Airport description page on Burningman.Com:

Prevailing winds are southwesterly, often strong and gusty. Winds can blow in one direction at Black Rock Airport, and another direction on the wide-open playa. Summer storms are common. Dust devils are numerous, even on calm days.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Thu May 20, 2004 3:46 pm

What is the prevailing wind direction out on the playa?

trouble with answering this question is that the 'prevailing wind' comes from one direction and the 'holy shit! get more zip ties on that thing STAT!' wind comes from the other. Even this statement is a useless generalization much of the time.

theBrooke · Post by **theBrooke** » Thu May 20, 2004 5:10 pm

Thank you Ranger Genius, approximate would be the opposite of your data.

B

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Thu May 20, 2004 5:32 pm

a cheap camping compass can be super helpfull.

As would learning how to navigate about BRC using the North star as a reference.

RingO'Fire · Post by **RingO'Fire** » Fri May 21, 2004 12:15 am

stuart wrote:
What is the prevailing wind direction out on the playa?
trouble with answering this question is that the 'prevailing wind' comes from one direction and the 'holy shit! get more zip ties on that thing STAT!' wind comes from the other. Even this statement is a useless generalization much of the time.

That's pretty much what I figured, actually, although I was hoping for something a little more...well...predictable, I reckon. Predictable unpredictabilities? Hmmm...I think that's it! I guess that's exactly what I was wanting.

Moral of the story as I see it: Stake and guy the fuck out of everthing. Bring extra rebar, rope and zip ties (about $20 for a bag of 1,000 x 7 inches or a bag of 500 x 11 inches in the Electrical Dept at Home Despot - I use them instead of string for making tie dye - no blisters on your fingers from tying knots all day that way).

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Fri May 21, 2004 7:29 am

Stuart is right about the completely unpredictable nature of the wind there. It can and will come from any and every direction, consecutively and concurrently. I think in this case "prevailing wind" means that you can guarantee that at some point during the day you will have a southwesterly wind. In fact, every morning.

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Fri May 21, 2004 7:54 am

Ranger Genius wrote:It most certainly can, especially on, say, sunday night when you no longer have a giant neon navigating beacon.

or street signs due to the memento acquisition experts... (vandals/theives)

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:04 am

I thought they were helpful burners doing their 2 hours MOOP Patrol.

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:09 am

theCryptofishist wrote:I thought they were helpful burners doing their 2 hours MOOP Patrol.

of course they are, how silly of me to suggest to the contrary...

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:09 am

Yeah...leave the place cleaner than you found it, right? Last year, some guy was trying to take an undisguised street sign out of the city strapped to the roof of his car ...in toto! He felt he was entitled to it.

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:23 am

Ranger Genius wrote:Yeah...leave the place cleaner than you found it, right? Last year, some guy was trying to take an undisguised street sign out of the city strapped to the roof of his car ...in toto! He felt he was entitled to it.

Well, on the same notion as... "entitled"... In 2001, I met a young woman from the west coast, who in fact worked for the DPW/Kommissary (spelling?) who thought it was her "right" to be Burning Man and that Burning Man shouldn't cost anything, which justified her plan to sneak her friends into the event....

yeah, thread drift, but these comments beat the pants off of attempting to reason with DVD Burner... about anything.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Fri May 21, 2004 12:19 pm

Joel, did that woman then post on the eplaya about how she was abused by the org or was that an unrelated asshole.

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Fri May 21, 2004 12:35 pm

stuart wrote:Joel, did that woman then post on the eplaya about how she was abused by the org or was that an unrelated asshole.

Negative knowledge on that matter, stuart.

Tiger Tiger · Post by **Tiger Tiger** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:06 pm

Ranger Genius wrote:I'm just being facetious. 6:00 runs north/south. 3:00/9:00 (the promenades) run east/west. Does this help?

No, no, that doesn't help at all! You are off by 60 degrees. True north from the man is out the 10:00 radial. East is out 1:00. Keep in mind that magnetic north in the Black Rock desert is 16 degrees east of true north. True north is 16 degrees to the left of where your compass indicates.

In 2002, the road from the gate, through center camp and out to the man was called north/south, but it was a fantasy, not real.

If want to set up your camp with sunrise, sunset and prevailing winds taken into account, and no compass, you can use your city plan. Rotate the map so that the 10:00 radial from the man is at the top. Locate your campsite and see what angle your street makes relative to north/south or east/west. Set up camp, and decide next year to will bring a compass to get it right.

Winds are most often out of the southwest, which means straight down 6:00 from the greeters, through center camp, and out to the man. These are the dustiest winds for most people because of the traffic on Gate Road. We had a lot of northeasterly winds last year, fairly mild. We often get light but turbulent winds from the west, especially near sunset. Easterly winds are rare, but a few years ago we measured gusts up to 70 mph out of the east.

Lissa Shoun
Tiger Tiger, burning bright...
Burning Man Airport Manager

theBrooke · Post by **theBrooke** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 3:56 pm

Thank you!

nipples · Post by **nipples** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:18 pm

i like your music, Brooke. good luck on the shade thing@!

nipples · Post by **nipples** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:20 pm

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:58 pm

theBrooke wrote:I'm wondering just how the city is situated in relation to true North. Last year I saw a breakdown of all the surveying work and it told which street lied on the north south line... It could be night when we get there and I want to have my bearings to avoid having to reset up Tuesday morning. I have a whole crazy plan to avoid sun hitting my tent and turning it into an e z bake oven at 7:30am but an important part is knowing where to place things... obviously.

The entry road at the Greeters station bisects one of the sides of the pentagonal trash fence around the site. Straight ahead from there through the Man along the 6:00 line is NE (45 degrees east of north), and the prevailing wind direction is roughly at your back (SW to WSW).

nipples · Post by **nipples** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:59 pm

(arrgh! my hands are like claws
"I" was to be capped, as was the other, when all I wanted to say was that Brooke Brook (the Brooklyn Kind!) mixes fine)

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 9:23 pm

This PDF file shows the event site, suitable for crabwalking:

http://www.nv.blm.gov/Winnemucca/recrea ... t_2000.pdf

Hasn't substantially changed since 2000.

North / South?

North / South?

Allright... allright....

...

Re: North / South?

heading out