Burning Man has seen major impacts from rain and storms during the festival's previous years, which turns the venue into a muddy mess.

But the flooding at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada isn't due to the amount of rain that falls; it happens because of the soil on which it falls on.

What is going on with the soil here?

The Black Rock Desert's origin story dates back 15,000 years. The Desert lies in the lake bed of the ancient Lake Lahontan. This lake deposited sediment that formed an extremely flat surface.

Just how flat?

In an area of about 119 square miles in the lake bed, the elevation changes by about 3 feet.

(BURNING MAN FORECAST: Weather this year could include wildfire smoke, heat and thunderstorms)

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The area is flat, but you also have the sediment itself. This sediment-covered soil struggles when water is present. It expands when wet, turning the ground into a very sticky mud that is difficult to traverse.

And this area has little drainage due to the flat elevation and the fact that the playa is surrounded by mountains.

How much rain does this area actually get?

The soil struggles when any rain falls, and this area barely sees any rain in September. The area only sees about 0.2 inches of rainfall in September and about 6 inches in a year.

A rainfall total that low on average means that the soil is dry and dusty by the time September comes around. Should you see even half an inch of rain in September, you are dealing with over two times the month's average in potentially just a day.

(MORE: In 2023, 70,000 people got stuck in a three-day mud trap)

Notable recent rainfalls

In 2025 and especially 2023, rainfall turned the event into a giant mud flat. The area saw nearly an inch of rain in 24 hours, which was the equivalent of several months' worth of rainfall. And to top it off, the overcast skies that followed led to the ground being slow to dry. Mud lingered and remained thick, keeping cars stuck on site.

People had to ration and conserve food, water and fuel, as instructed through the "2023 Wet Playa Survival Guide" created by event organizers.

DJ and producer Diplo had to hitch a ride out in the back of a pickup truck with comedian Chris Rock.

"I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out cuz I have a show in DC tonight and didn't want to let y'all down," he captioned a post on his Instagram, documenting his experience.

Eventually, "exodus operations" began, with people still trying to leave days after the festival was supposed to end.