Any word on playa conditions for 2013?

[Just_Joe]

Doesn't look that hard packed to me. After some traffic on that, it's going to be powder.
Not that it's a bad thing....powder playa makes for great stamp art.

We were there over Memorial Day and I spent a bit of time driving around the city footprint.
Compared to last year at the same time, it appeared to be a little firmer/tighter.

I did a bit of mooping.
Best award for irony goes to the button I found that said "One Week Is Not Enough" at the Man site.

[theCryptofishist]

I did a bit of mooping.
Best award for irony goes to the button I found that said "One Week Is Not Enough" at the Man site.

That is sweet.

[peachandpapa]

Anyone out on the playa over the 4th of July weekend? How were the playa conditions?

[Mojojita]

It rained some on the Fourth!

[ygmir]

I hear there was a lightning strike, but no bad injuries.

[OhioBluey]

Question about dry as a popcorn fart: Is that terminology describing a fart that is actually as dry as popcorn or is it comparing the arid weather to a fart a person would experience after a steady diet of eating popcorn? If it is a fart as dry as the popcorn itself, would that be popped or unpopped popcorn? I assume it's implied that the steady diet of popcorn would be of the popped variety.

I worked in a bar that served bowls of pop corn to tables (extra salty to keep them drinking).
I did find it made me fart and in a strange way although not sure if dry.
FYI & TMI it's the sharp semi popped ones you'll regret if you eat enough

It wasn't the popcorn that made you fart, it was the beer. Just sayin...

[Dr. Pyro]

I hear there was a lightning strike, but no bad injuries.

No, just the good kind of injuries.

[Savannah]

I hear there was a lightning strike, but no bad injuries.

No, just the good kind of injuries.

Rugburns, mostly.

[Rev Mojo Ryson]

http://burners.me/2013/07/05/a-wet-and-happy-juplaya/

[peachandpapa]

Thanks Rev Mojo! Great pics of a truly wet playa! Probably too little too late for a hard playa for 2013 BM.

[Rev Mojo Ryson]

Hard to imagine that much water on the playa considering the epic drought for that area. http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?NV,W

[maladroit]

I'm hearing that it may be a good year to prepare for rain. A bit extra food and water never hurts, in case 15,000 vehicles end up welded to the playa.

[unjonharley]

I'm hearing that it may be a good year to prepare for rain. A bit extra food and water never hurts, in case 15,000 vehicles end up welded to the playa.

Even my first Burn I took extra.. also on all outings. Your vehicle will do just fine as long as you do not try to drive it.. There will be enough dumbwads to show you what can happen.. Sit and watch the jackass show and enjoy..

[Rev Mojo Ryson]

Browsing US Drought Monitor archives, this will be the driest playa in Burning Man history. Reckon the water on the playa from the early July pics was from mountain run off? Gerlach has only got about an inch and half of precip all year!

[lucky420]

The water on the playa was from the massive thunderstorms we had out there that week. Some of the water could of been from flash flooding coming down from the hills and on to the playa...

[lucky420]

In n. Nv it can be raining hard in one area and less than a quarter mile away barely be wet at all. And the Black Rock Desert is almost 2 million acres...

Oh My God, it's HUGE

[Savannah]

In n. Nv it can be raining hard in one area and less than a quarter mile away barely be wet at all. And the Black Rock Desert is almost 2 million acres...

Oh My God, it's HUGE

[unjonharley]

Browsing US Drought Monitor archives, this will be the driest playa in Burning Man history. Reckon the water on the playa from the Junplaya pics was from mountain run off? Gerlach has only got about an inch and half of precip all year!

Factor in the strange weather that is happening around the globe.. I would not try to predict any weather anymore than a few hours.. The playa makes most of it's own winds.. The mountains snag rain clouds.. Enough rain fall a couple of mountains away.. It can hold just so much water.. When the mountain lets the water go.. No one on the playa will see or hear a thing..Then the water hits the playa.. It happens all the time in NV, NM, TX & AZ.. Some of the walls of water are 8 plus feet high.. I do not predict anything.. I just go by: If it can happen it will..

[Rev Mojo Ryson]

Heh, and I thought the "Southwest Monsoons" were a minor league baseball team!--http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n ... g/15075792

[Ugly Dougly]

Heh, and I thought the "Southwest Monsoons" were a minor league baseball team!--http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n ... g/15075792

You mean like this?
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n ... g/15075792
Yeah, I like it slippery.

[FIGJAM]

"There's no place like home!"

This is blowing in right now at 41mph.

[peachandpapa]

Figjam, is that rain or dust?

[FIGJAM]

Dust!

The picture does'nt do it justice.

I looks like a giant brown CGI tidal wave from a disaster movie!

The rain usually comes right behind it.

[geospyder]

Like I told Laura on FB - good practice for the Playa.

[unjonharley]

Dust!

The picture does'nt do it justice.

I looks like a giant brown CGI tidal wave from a disaster movie!

The rain usually comes right behind it.

now don't you wish you were up here in dog's country a.k.a. OR.

[FIGJAM]

No.

[Ugly Dougly]

Oh please, not a mud storm.

[Rev Mojo Ryson]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 0001_n.jpg

[trilobyte]

Not my pic, but this one's made the rounds on the interwebz a bit. Taken by a friend of a friend (of a friend) on the playa within the last ten days or so.

IMG_1930.JPG

Ever-so-slightly wet. Things should hopefully have a chance to dry out over the next few weeks. Historically, August is pretty dry, with the occasional sprinkles here and there. In years where it's been wet in early July and dry up on through the event, we end up with a nice crunchy top surface (like walking on filo dough), with a gooey clay mud starting around 6 inches below the surface. That may make pounding (and later pulling) your stakes a little harder, but once they're in they'll have a pretty good grip.

It's weather, so generally impossible to predict with any real accuracy more than a few days out. We know the temps can range from as cold as the low 40's farenheit (4-7 degrees celsius) at night to as hot as more than 100 degrees farenheit (38 celsius). We've had mild years in the past (this doesn't look like it will be one of those years), and we've had years with dust storms that lasted for days, or with short but ferocious storms that served up winds over 60-75mph. We've had years with no rain at all, and we've had years with sprinkles and even brief showers. In the late 90's, there were sustained showers that left the playa looking like the picture above. If you really want to be prepared, you plan for all those possibilities and be ready for anything while you hope for the best.

[mulch]

Is that picture roughly where BRC goes? and I imagine that that means less dust?