However, in recent years Burning Man has gained a cultish popularity among Silicon Valley’s technocrats, as well as celebrities, influencers and others who treat the gathering as a photogenic opportunity to network, post selfies, and experiment with psychedelic drugs. Many in these moneyed ranks choose to spend the festival in gas-guzzling luxury RVs. Rising temperatures in Black Rock Desert, which hit a record 103F at last year’s edition, have led to an increasing reliance on air conditioning fueled by generators.

Burning Man attendee Bonnie Bliess told the New York Post: “It’s really hot during the day and it’s cold at night and the dust is really intense,” she said.

But this year the story is not about heat, cold and dust, but about rain, cold and mud. The Reno Gazette reported that conditions were drawing comparisons to the 2017 Fyre Festival during which partiers in the Bahamas were stranded without food or shelter.

But there may be other comparisons, too, including the ill-fated Woodstock ’94 when rain cause the event to be renamed Mudstock ’94.

Tens of thousands of “burners’” at the Burning Man festival have been told to stay in the camps, conserve food and water and are being blocked from leaving Nevada’s Black Rock desert after a slow-moving rainstorm turned the event into a mud bath.

Organizers responding to the unusual weather indicated the closures could endure, as local reports described the conditions at the festival as “treacherous” with “thick, slimy mud clung to shoes and anything else it touched”.

“No driving is permitted on playa except for emergency vehicles,” event organizers said in a 5am statement on Saturday. “If you are in [Black Rock City], please shelter in place and stay safe

70,000 at Burning Man festival are isolated, still stuck as rain returns