Coachella 2026: Violent winds disrupt festival, campgrounds

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High winds caused problems at the Coachella festival on Friday night, and similar conditions are expected to continue through the weekend.

While wind is common at the festival, which typically draws around 125,000 people to the Empire Polo Club each weekend, it’s unusual for the weather to force performers to cancel their sets.

Anyma, a popular electronic music artist, had to cancel his performance late Friday night. The set, which was scheduled for just before midnight on the festival’s main stage, was called off because of bad weather.

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Wow, Coachella 2026 kicked off with some amazing performances! Sabrina Carpenter was a headliner, which was fantastic, and I was so excited to see the P-pop group Bini – they actually made history being there! It wasn’t all smooth sailing though, unfortunately Anyma had to cancel their set due to some really high winds. I’ve been checking out photos of the other acts too – The XX, Katseye, Turnstile… it looked like an incredible day overall.

Coachella announced that Anyma couldn’t perform due to strong winds impacting the stage setup. The decision was made jointly by Coachella and Anyma with everyone’s safety as the main concern, according to a message sent early Saturday morning.

On Friday night, social media posts indicated that the Do Lab stage – known for its colorful, shaded structures – was closed off with caution tape. Reports suggested a speaker may have fallen.

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Discover Justin Bieber’s performance highlights and check out photos and more from Day 2 of the festival, featuring Nine Inch Nails, The Strokes, Jack White, Fujii Kaze, and Addison Rae.

Neither Goldenvoice, the festival organizer, nor the team behind the Do Lab stage responded to requests for comment before this article was published.

The wind wreaked havoc in the campsite as well, blowing tents and canopies over.

Wow, things got pretty wild at Coachella last night! I heard from AccuWeather’s Isaac Longley that the wind was really picking up – they were getting gusts up to 35 or 40 miles per hour right when a lot of artists were performing. Apparently, it caused some serious issues with the tents, which sounds pretty scary for everyone involved.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts a high of 86 degrees in Indio on Saturday. Winds will be light in the afternoon, around 5 to 10 mph, then pick up after midnight to 15 to 20 mph and shift direction. Expect gusts up to 30 mph later in the evening. The low for Saturday night will be 56 degrees.

According to Longley, the weather on Saturday afternoon and evening should be much like Friday, with increasing winds. He strongly recommends securing tents with stakes.

The weather forecast for Sunday predicts cooler temperatures, with a high of 79 degrees and daytime winds between 10 and 20 mph. Overnight, the low will be around 53 degrees, with winds at 15 mph and potential gusts up to 30 mph.

There’s also an air quality alert for the windblown dust through 5 a.m. Sunday.

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2026-04-12 21:03