Weather
Conditions at the Golden Spike, and what they mean for getting around.
Playa now · dust risk (experimental)
BLUEWING MOUNTAIN, 20 mi S →
6LOW4 mph ESE, gusting 6
50°F
Wind 3 mph, gusting 3 · visibility 7.6 mi
Updated 8:24 AM PT
Open-Meteo
Light & layers
DaylightSunset in 9h 38m (6:06 PM)
Dark by 6:34 PM
Now: Cold. Warm jacket, hat, long pants.
- 2 PMWind picking up — goggles and mask — Gusts to 29 mph. Expect blowing dust on open playa.
- 2 PMRain chance 40% — A shell in the bag. Wet playa turns to mud that stops bikes.
- 6 PMRain chance 43% — A shell in the bag. Wet playa turns to mud that stops bikes.
- 9 PMRain chance 44% — A shell in the bag. Wet playa turns to mud that stops bikes.
- 10 PMWind easing — Gusts back under 25 mph.
Sun times computed for the Golden Spike; “dark” is civil dusk, when you need a light. The temperature falls fastest in the hour after sunset.
Getting around today
Gusts to 36 mph are forecast — expect blowing dust, slower riding, and poor visibility on open playa. Goggles and a mask. Rain chance peaks at 45% — wet playa turns to mud that stops bikes entirely.
Travel estimates in the planner are inflated by 50% to account for this — an estimate, not a measurement.
Radar
Loading radar…
The nearest weather radar is at Reno, about 100 miles away. At that distance the beam passes thousands of feet above the playa, so it shows storms aloft but regularly misses light rain and virga — the very thing that turns the ground to mud. A clear radar is not proof of a dry playa. Radar by RainViewer.
Air
US AQI
36
Dust
4μg/m³
PM10
7μg/m³
Modelled, not measured. There is no air sensor at Black Rock City in any public feed — the nearest regulatory monitor is about 85 miles away — so treat this as a forecast of dust, not a reading of it. Your own eyes beat this number. Air quality data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0).
No active alerts. Official severe-weather alerts for the playa come from the National Weather Service; nothing in this app detects dust storms.
Next 24 hours
8 AM
50°
3g
27%
9 AM
51°
3g
29%
10 AM
53°
8g
31%
11 AM
55°
11g
29%
12 PM
56°
16g
26%
1 PM
54°
25g
29%
2 PM
54°
29g
40%
3 PM
52°
29g
40%
4 PM
52°
28g
40%
5 PM
50°
32g
39%
6 PM
49°
35g
43%
7 PM
47°
36g
45%
8 PM
47°
31g
37%
9 PM
47°
29g
44%
10 PM
46°
23g
58%
11 PM
47°
17g
61%
12 AM
46°
12g
69%
1 AM
47°
21g
68%
2 AM
46°
19g
55%
3 AM
47°
11g
41%
4 AM
47°
8g
24%
5 AM
46°
19g
6 AM
44°
13g
7 AM
42°
11g
Temperature, peak gust (g) and rain chance. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0); official alerts by NOAA/NWS.