BURNING MAN 2014 SLOWED BY RAIN

More than 70,000 Burners were due to travel to the Playa in the Black Rock, Nevada today. Police are turning guests away and instructing them to return to Reno and other area cities as the Playa dust has turned to mud.

Click here for a webcam from Black Rock Nevada which shows current conditions.

The LA. Weekly headline stated Burning Man Closed. The article went on to say...

The annual Burning Man festival in Black Rock, Nevada was shut down today after light overnight rains left the area known as the Playa flooded and muddy, officials said.

Organizers advised festival-goers heading to the annual event to postpone their arrival until at least midday tomorrow. Burning Man was providing updates on Twitter.

Zach Tolby, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada told us that the rains were very light—only two-tenths of an inch worth at the most—but that ...

" ... they're out on a dry lakebed and it gets really greasy out there."

In a statement sent to the Weekly, organizers said:

Black Rock City has shut down following rainstorms that left standing water on the playa, leaving it un-drivable.

Rudy Evenson of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which runs the property where Burning Man is held each year, said the main gate to the party was closed down this morning "because there was too much rain. When it dries out they'll let people in again."

According to the Burning Man statement: