Kelowna

Sister cities

• Kasugai
• Senanga
• Veendam

History

The exact dates of the first settlement in the Okanagan Valley are unknown, but a northern migration led to the habitation of this area some 9,000 years ago. The Indigenous Syilx people are the first known inhabitants of the region where they continue to live today. In 1811, David Stuart travelled to the Okanagan Valley, becoming the first European to do so. Despite this, it was not until 1859 that Father Pandosy, a French Roman Catholic Oblate missionary, became the first European to settle there. Pandosy's settlement was located at l'Anse au Sable (Bay of Sand), which he named in reference to its sandy shoreline. Although the population remained small for the rest of the 19th century, sustenance fruit growing expanded in Kelowna during the 1870s, and by the 1890s, commercial agriculture had become firmly established. Kelowna was officially incorporated on May 4, 1905, with a population of 600. The town's first mayor was Henry Raymer. On September 11, 1925, CP was extended to Kelowna, ending the town's reliance on Okanagan Lake for transportation and trade. On November 25, 2005, the First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders signed the Kelowna Accord, which sought to improve the lives of Indigenous peoples. Kelowna celebrated its centennial in May 2005. The same year, construction began on the five-lane William R. Bennett Bridge to replace the three-lane Okanagan Lake Bridge as part of a plan to alleviate traffic problems during the summer tourist season. The new bridge was completed in 2008. On July 12, 2021, a crane suffered a catastrophic failure while being dismantled at a construction site located at St. Paul Street near Bernard Avenue in downtown Kelowna. Part of the crane struck a nearby office building and a seniors home. The city declared a local…

Geography

Kelowna's official flower is Balsamorhiza sagittata, commonly referred to as arrowleaf balsamroot. Kelowna is classified as a humid continental climate or an inland oceanic climate per the Köppen climate classification system due to its coldest month having an average temperature slightly above and below , with dry, hot, sunny summers and cool, cloudy winters, and four seasons. The official climate station for Kelowna is at the Kelowna International Airport, which is at a higher elevation than the city core, with slightly higher precipitation and cooler nighttime temperatures. Kelowna has the second mildest winter of any non-coastal city in Canada, after neighbouring Penticton. This is caused by the moderating effects of Okanagan Lake combined with mountains separating most of BC from the prairies; however bitter Arctic air masses can occasionally penetrate the valley during winter, usually for very short periods. The coldest recorded temperature in the city was recorded on December 30, 1968. The last time the lake completely froze over was in the winter of 1969. A partial lake freeze also took place in the winter of 1985–1986. Some winters pass without any significant surface ice. An inversion layer of cloud created by a Pacific low-pressure system moving into or stalling over the southern interior gives Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley near-constant cloudy conditions during December and January, making it the cloudiest winter climate in Canada outside of parts of Newfoundland. Since Okanagan Lake rarely freezes, the warmer air from the lake rises above the colder atmospheric air, leading to a temperature inversion that also contributes to the valley being enveloped by clouds. This valley cloud has a low ceiling, and often bright sunshine can be experienced by…