Playa wind nightmare stories

[TomServo]

My first night in BRC, 1999, I woke up to the shadows of my tent poles flailing about. Half awake, I ran out with the duct tape...reattached the pole joints...duct taped over the seam...then promptly passed back out. The next morning I opened my tent flap to see our neighbors across the street. The giant tarp, that was the eastern wall of our camp had ripped out of its grommets. Luckily, it was still technically still attached. After about an hour of duct taping every possible malfunction on the camp, I heard from our neighbor, that 110 mph gusts were reported that night.

In 2007..I think..at that other thing in july..I arrived on the tail end of a 14 hour dust storm. After the storm passed, I saw, what used to be, an EZ-up canopy, crumpled beyond recognition.

[FIGJAM]

[RedHeaven]

Not many wind stories the past couple years....BRC has gotten very lucky!!
I have a feeling after 2 years of mellow we are in for a doozy

[Ugly Dougly]

Here's a photo of Ygmir lassoing a twister last year.

[FeetOfClay]

reading this thread, i am so glad that Junglesmacks turned me on the idea of renting a small box truck, and using that for my shelter in BRC.

I was gonna go Amtrak from NY to Reno, rent a car, get a tent and rebar, and do it that way. then, Junglesmacks came along, showed me that renting a truck was actually CHEAPER than renting a car, and that the truck could be my shelter. i may need to shut the back door during a bad storm, but i kNOW it won't blow away, which is more than i can say for any tent i was gonna bring

[theCryptofishist]

Here's a photo of Ygmir lassoing a twister last year.

I suppose you're going to say that while Pacos Ygmir was in Texas, he checked in on some grassy knoll.
Conspiracy theorists, always coming up with goofy connections.

[lucky420]

it's true ya know. I read it on wikipedia

[Bay Bridge Sue]

In 2007..I think..at that other thing in july..I arrived on the tail end of a 14 hour dust storm. After the storm passed, I saw, what used to be, an EZ-up canopy, crumpled beyond recognition.

2007 - Legendary. Ug. The first time I remember a 3 day duststorm. Watching shit deconstruct right and left, from domes (tumbleweed) to EZ-ups (but not downs) to tents... Even watched said windstorm deconstruct a long term relationship (long story)... And mind you, the wind wasn't *that* bad (I think it was peaking between 70 and 80) but the dust it was packing was whatmade life shitty.

A good warning - considering the playa is even fluff dustier this year than '07. We get a repeat of these winds - or worse - and you better have handlines between your tents and main structures, and a GPS for finding the portapotties.

[Morrell]

During the peak of the windstorm in 2007(my first Burn), my girlfriend and I had retreated into our little RV to wait it out and fell asleep. We awoke a bit later to see our neighbor ( who we barely knew) salvaging our shade structure with extra rebar. The first of so many random acts of kindness I have experienced at Burning Man over the years!!!

[pizzamancer]

It was a bit dusty on pizza night last year