The Burner faithful probably heard a few reports over the last month about how the playa had turned into a lake following all that winter rain, in some cases with water as deep as a foot. But the Chronicle has just spoken with Kyle Hendrix, the Burning Man public information officer for the Bureau of Land Management office in Winnemucca, Nevada, and he says there's just scattered large puddles now, less than an inch deep, and it's all evaporating nicely.
The video above was taken on Memorial Day weekend, and you can see that at that point people were wading in muddy water up to knee deep in spots, leading to talk that this year's Burning Man might need to be relocated.
But Jim Graham, a spokesperson for the Burning Man organization, tells the Chronicle, "We've been monitoring the situation closely and are reassured by the forecast, which calls for lots of hot, windy weather in the coming days. We're confident the site will be suitable for event preparation and operations to start on time, at our usual location on the Black Rock Desert."
Hendrix further noted that the playa flooded back in 2008, and after that wet winter the water crested even later than it did this year, and Burning Man still went on in the same location.
On the plus side, he's saying this could end up being a low dust year because of all this moisture.