🇺🇸 Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
Does It Rain at Burning Man?
Across roughly 15 years of records at the site, rain falls on about 11% of Burning Man days, averaging 0.2mm a day.
The short answer
11%
of days see 1mm+
0.2 mm
average per day
Low
mud risk
Rain is the exception rather than the rule here. Mud is rarely the story — dust and sun usually are.
Rain day by day
| Day | Rain | High | Weather score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 30 Aug | 0.0 mm | 30°C | 100% |
| Mon 31 Aug | 0.0 mm | 30°C | 100% |
| Tue 1 Sept | 0.5 mm | 29°C | 99% |
| Wed 2 Sept | 0.2 mm | 30°C | 100% |
| Thu 3 Sept | 1.0 mm | 30°C | 98% |
| Fri 4 Sept | 0.0 mm | 30°C | 100% |
| Sat 5 Sept | 0.1 mm | 30°C | 100% |
| Sun 6 Sept | 0.0 mm | 30°C | 100% |
| Mon 7 Sept | 0.0 mm | 31°C | 100% |
The wettest festival day on average is Thu 3 Sept at 1.0mm; the driest is Sun 30 Aug at 0.0mm. Over the main days that adds up to roughly 1.8mm.
What rain actually does to Burning Man
The desert dictates everything. Sun and dehydration rule the day, freezing nights surprise the underprepared, and the famous white-out dust storms can shut down visibility for hours. The rare rainstorm turns the playa into impassable mud — as it did in 2023, when the entire city was stranded for days. Goggles, dust masks, layers and serious water are baseline kit.
If the forecast turns wet
- Boots over trainers, and a spare pair of shoes sealed in a bag.
- Rain jacket for walking, poncho for standing in a crowd with a backpack.
- Pitch on the high side of the field, never in a dip, and use a groundsheet.
- Dry bags for phone, power bank, tickets and one full change of clothes.
How we know
These numbers come from the Open-Meteo historical reanalysis at the festival's coordinates, averaged day by day over about 15 years. They describe a typical edition, not the one you're going to — for the live picture, the Burning Man forecast page updates twice a day once the event is inside the forecast window.