GM and welcome back to the Napa Lowdown - more specifically, the Monday Town Notes.

If you’re new here, Mondays are for the practical stuff.
The local intel. The “you’re better off knowing than not knowing” stuff.

And this week, that feels as pertinent as ever…

Because we are basically five days away from things getting a lot more chaotic around town, so this is my friendly reminder to front-load your week if you can.

Get gas. Go to the post office. Knock out whatever random downtown errand you have been putting off. Especially downtown, I would really try to just get that stuff done now before the BottleRock storm rolls in.

Here’s your Napa Lowdown Trivia for the week: What was Napa’s wettest rain year on record?

A. 41.7 inches
B. 50.2 inches
C. 65.5 inches
D. 79.8 inches

Yes, we all know the obvious stuff: parking near the fairgrounds will be brutal, restaurant wait times will go up, and traffic will be bad.

But here are a few other ways this weekend can sneak up on you.

Rideshare will work, but expect the usual festival pain - whether you are going or not. So if you are a heavy rideshare person, maybe plan an alternate this weekend. Surge pricing, slower pickups, harder drop-offs, all the usual nonsense.

In a similar vein, I would also expect upcharges and slower delivery times on things like Instacart, DoorDash, and even some random retail or service-type stuff. Basically, if your plan involves “I’ll just have it delivered,” I would maybe not bank on that being quite as smooth as normal.

And this one I think people do not always plan ahead: 185,000 people are here for the weekend, and yes, they need groceries and toilet paper too. So I would consider grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, and all that kind of stuff around town to be a bit busier than usual.

A pretty great hack here: go at night while the tourists are partying.

And then there is the less glamorous side of all this: Bins fill faster. Sidewalks get messier. Public bathrooms and other shared facilities get used way harder than normal. The whole town just takes a bigger hit for a few days.

So shoutout to the maintenance crews and everyone handling that side of things, because keeping a town clean and healthy is like recovering an ecosystem after getting swarmed by an invasive species for a few days.

We mentioned this a few weeks ago: don’t sleep on the Vine.

All bus trips will be free during BottleRock weekend, May 22-24, not just festival rides, and that includes extended late-night service. The closest stop to the festival is the Soscol Gateway Transit Center at 625 Burnell Street, which is a short walk from the Expo.

And beyond BottleRock, the Summer Youth Pass is back, which gives anyone 18 and under unlimited rides all summer for $20.

For us data nerds, I found this little Napa weather stat check that is actually pretty satisfying.

TLDR: not terrible, not amazing, and just enough off pace to be worth knowing.

Napa County RCD says that by May 1 we had typically received about 94% of our annual rainfall by this point in the water year, and this year totals in the City of Napa were at 22.7 inches, which they say is about 80% of mean annual precipitation.

If you back into that, it implies a normal annual total of about 28.4 inches, and about 26.7 inches would be the “normal” amount to have by May 1. So the City of Napa is sitting about 4.0 inches behind that usual pace.

If you picture a moderate rainy day as roughly half an inch of rain, that is about 8 moderate rainy days’ worth of water we are missing.

The way the chart visualizes it is actually pretty interesting - March was almost completely dry, and even though April came in a little wetter, it was not enough to fully make up the difference.

In other words: below average, but not officially dry.

So no, this is not some huge drought panic section. But it is a useful little reminder that even after a few decent rain years, water in Napa still does not really stay simple for long.

I know you guys are a smart bunch, and if you’re older, you probably remember what this felt like, right?

Five tests in two weeks. This test matters because the grade matters.
The grade matters because the school matters. The school matters because the job matters. The job matters because your whole life is supposed to come from that.

It is a pretty tracked path for a lot of kids - especially these days - and it sparks a lot of pressure.

So if you have a high schooler, college kid, or generally stressed student in your orbit, you already know this is that time of year.

AP exams are happening, finals are around the corner, and the general mood gets a little more tense everywhere. Not exactly breaking news, but definitely part of the rhythm of town right now.

Looking at the calendar, a lot of the APs have already taken place, but I would still say this: if you come across some high schooler working a cash register, looking fried, and trying to sneak in a little studying while things are slow - maybe cut them some slack.

Mostly just wanted to pass along and brainstorm a few things that could make your weekend a little easier - because if all of these hit you at once on Saturday at 11:30 a.m., it makes for a rough time.

So in short:

Plan a little ahead, give yourself a little extra time, and stay safe out there.

Trivia Answer: Napa’s wettest year on record was about B. 50.2 inches in 1982-83.

For comparison, Seattle says the Puget Sound region averages about 3 feet of rain per year. So Napa’s wettest year was about 60% wetter than an average Seattle year.

I’ll see you Friday - still not even fully sure what I’m doing yet, but we’ll figure it out.

Callie