The annual Burning Man festival is currently closing its gates off to all festival goers for tonight and possibly into Tuesday morning due to rain, as a measure to prevent accidents. Burning Man’s twitter page announced that those traveling to the festival should stop their travels due to unsafe conditions and may continue once receiving the alert that the gate is reopened. If cars choose to continue driving towards the playa they will be turned back once they reach Wadsworth, Nevada (about 30 minutes past Reno). One Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper said that this delay and temporary closure of the festival is truly a safety issue due to the fact that the playa is mucky and muddy, leaving it impossible to bike in and very difficult to walk on.
If festivals goers were permitted onto the playa at this time, there’s a good chance that people would get stuck everywhere. Some hundreds of burners already entered the festival gates on Sunday before the rain hit and must remain there, but it is estimated that thousands are already waiting on the outside itching to get in. The event is expecting a whopping 70,000 people this week and there is already traffic about three miles away from the Burning Man gate. Unfortunately for all those stuck waiting to get in, there will be no entry onto the playa until further notice but the good news is that after today, Burning Man looks like it will be dry for the rest of the week.
