dust levels this year?

[mp3dancer]

Has anyone been there SINCE July 4th, or heard from someone who has? I've rumours of a superdusty year >:-| due to the way the playa dried very quickly this last month.

[The CO]

No one will know till we are there. Anyone who sez otherwise is lying or selling something.

[trilobyte]

I talked to someone the other day who was there last weekend. The playa was still a bit wet in spots.

We then had a discussion about what that might mean. Yeah, it'll certainly be dry by the time we're there. And the consensus is that this will likely translate to a dusty year. My opinion, though, is a bit different. Playa conditions aren't very dusty at first, because nobody's been stomping around on it. Whether it's hard-packed, has a crusty surface, or whether it's a deep/soft playa, by Wednesday or Thursday of the week there'll be a lot of dust everywhere.

~Trilo~

[diane o'thirst]

Remember the '01 Burn with three- and four-foot dust dunes and day-long whiteouts on Labor Day Monday?

I've been tracking Gerlach weather and it's been consistently in the high-nineties-low-100s. I'm planning for high winds and high temps this year.

[joel the ornery]

Remember the '01 Burn with three- and four-foot dust dunes and day-long whiteouts on Labor Day Monday?

I've been tracking Gerlach weather and it's been consistently in the high-nineties-low-100s. I'm planning for high winds and high temps this year.

'01 memory... working for dpw, running errands into reno and back daily, drive onto the desert in a dust storm, stop by Dude's place, he's taken refuge in his generator baffle box, call his name, his head sticks out the top of the box, jumps into the truck, we blast to trego, NO WIND, beers ensue, sleep at trego, drive to breakdast refreshed.

dusty, dusty, dusty.

[trilobyte]

No I don't... I'm still a bit of a newbie, 2004 was my first year.

~Trilo~

[Oblique]

Yes. 2001 was my first year and I was like, "Woah.... These people were not joking about the dust storms." It was pretty exciting, but my tent had a mm of sand on the bottom of it and I slept with a dust mask on. LOL

I just thought that is how it was supposed to be, but then non of the years to follow were quite as bad in the dust department.

Ob

[joel the ornery]

'01 was an excellent year for dust.

vintage.

[The CO]

The Playa is always dusty.
The Playa is almost always hot.
The Playa is somtimes wet.
The Playa may even be cold.

Pack 2 pairs of goggles (more if your fashionable), your pref. in dust masks (I like cloth surgical masks or the good ole' bandana), and an outer layer for every known type of weather, including fridgid ('99-Freezing Man).

And never be afraid to use any of it.

Trilobyte said it well; once 35,000 get there conditions change.

[lapeer20m]

i slept on the playa a week ago today. Well, i actually slept in my car out on the playa because it was so dusty! The wind was blowing pretty hard.

I spent a half hour or so driving around in total darkness except for my headlights. When i woke up during the daylight hours, i drove around for quite a while at excessively high speeds and i didn't see any water. The playa didn't seem any different to me than it was during the burns in 04 and 05.

[dj_john69]

I planning on heading to the Playa this Sunday to check it out. If i remember, i'll post the conditions.

~John

[diane o'thirst]

My local Costco is having a coupon sale for Ziploc bags next week. Check to see if yours is doing the same, grab the coupon and STOCK UP.

[frenchblue1]

last year was the worst year in some time in my opinion. Sure, 2004 was very dusty the first part of the week but it settled down for the weekend. When was the last rain we've experienced the week of the burn?? Did it rain in 2000?

[diane o'thirst]

There was some serious rain happening, but we got a nice rainbow on Friday evening.

Playa story: we were weathering the storm in the Atlantis pyramid and when it stopped, three of us hung out the window in the front, facing the Esplanade, and did our famous "Sucker Hole" chant to warn everyone walking around that the respite was only temporary.

Which it was.

[joel the ornery]

last year was the worst year in some time in my opinion. Sure, 2004 was very dusty the first part of the week but it settled down for the weekend. When was the last rain we've experienced the week of the burn?? Did it rain in 2000?

as i recall, nope, maybe a quick rain but nothing alarming.

[trilobyte]

There was a heavy rain during the week prior to the 2004 event, so heavy that the playa was closed off for a while. It later rained ever-so briefly (a few drops) on Thursday.

Lapeer... any idea if the spot you were on was last year's playa or this year's? This year's event is being staged a mile and a half northeast of last year's site, I believe.

~Trilo~

[Tiara]

There was a rainstorm late in the week during the 2002 event, but everything dried out within a few hours.

[blyslv]

The Bureau of Weights and Measures is predicting a dust level of 37.89 this year. Please prepare accordingly.

[diane o'thirst]

Forgive my cluelessness, but what does 37.89 mean in pragmatic terms?

Vis-a-vis, more dust than '01, about the same or less?

[blyslv]

It's on a non-linear sliding scale starting with the value -7.

[Ugly Dougly]

Nearly enough dust to make a rope out of, anyway.

[diane o'thirst]

It's on a non-linear sliding scale starting with the value -7.

[lapeer20m]

Lapeer... any idea if the spot you were on was last year's playa or this year's? This year's event is being staged a mile and a half northeast of last year's site, I believe.

~Trilo~

I was rather disoriented as i entered the playa at nite, and without at least 20,000 other people there, it made it difficult to figure out exactly where the "leave no trace" event was last year. The next morning i drove around for probably a half hour (at rediculously high speeds from time to time) and i was unable to estimate where the burn took place last year. I couldn't remember which mile entrance to use either, but most of the playa looked about the same to me, not so different from 05. The 1 other vehicle i saw driving around miles away from me was kicking up a good cloud of dust as it cruised along.

I didn't use any scientific measuring devices, but the playa didn't seem any more or less dusty then it did during the two previous burns.