If last year's Splendour in the Grass music festival near Byron Bay turned into splendour in the mud, then the 2023 Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert is more like a muddy hell.

The Burning Man Festival is an annual cultural festival held in the arid desert of northwest Nevada, USA. This year, as many as 73,000 people are attending.

It is held in a dry, flat area devoid of vegetation which sits at the lowest part of the surrounding desert basin. The geographical term used in America for such an area is a "playa". Some also call it a dry lake bed, although that's technically not correct in the modern day, as no lake has existed there for millennia.

Image: More like a nightmare than a daydream for most people tbh. Source: Joshuacdonaldson on Instagram.

Normally conditions at Burning Man are dry and hot. But this year, thunderstorms have given a festival a very different mood. America's National Weather Service even issued a flood watch for the area.

The rain started on Friday which turned the dusty surface of the vast temporary campground into muddy sludge. It has been difficult enough to walk through the camp, while leaving has been impossible for all but a few powerful vehicles due to the likelihood of becoming bogged.

I got this video yesterday of this TRX putting all that horsepower to good use to escape burning man😂 #burningman #BurningMan2023 pic.twitter.com/xWYriRgCHo

— Brendancogbill (@brendanmcogbill) September 4, 2023

Burning Man Organisers issued a statement warning that conditions remained too wet and muddy for "Exodus"(their dramatic, biblical-toned word for departure) on Sunday local time.

However they said it should be safe to leave by Monday morning (midday Monday AEST was 7 pm Sunday in Nevada).

Image: This sign didn't quite work after the heavy downpour. Source: Joshuacdonaldson on Instagram.

Possibly responding to some attendees complaints on social media that their freedom was being impinged, Burning Man organisers also said:

"Participants are not being detained. BLM and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office have not issued instructions to detain people. The Burning Man organization's advice is for participants to delay their departures to avoid getting stuck in the mud, but people are free to leave should they choose to do so."

Frustrated at their inability to drive away, some festival-goers have abandoned their vehicles and campsites and walked the approximately 10 km to the nearest small town, while others have become sick. A false rumour circulated that an Ebola outbreak had occurred, however that was disproven.

Burning Man attendees had a burning desire to leave, but this proved impossible. Source: Kim Hotheim on Instagram.

This is not the first time wild weather has struck this event. Dust storms have previously disrupted the festival, while hailstorms have also occurred in the past.

Meanwhile one person is reported to have have died at the festival, with the cause at yet unknown.