Kelowna weather and your roof: dry heat, valley snow and fire

Kelowna International Airport: the numbers

The long-term station for the Kelowna area is Kelowna International Airport, north of the city core. Its Environment and Climate Change Canada normals list 386.9 mm of precipitation a year, of which 311.3 mm falls as rain, over 136.6 days with measurable precipitation. Snowfall averages 89.0 cm across 34.5 snow days. Those precipitation figures are 1981–2010 normals; the temperature averages are 1991–2020.

January averages a high of 0.6 °C and a low of −6.3 °C. July averages 28.5 °C by day and 11.3 °C at night. The station's record high, 45.7 °C, was set in June 2021, and its record low is −36.1 °C.

Snow and the grey Kelowna winter

Kelowna's winter is shaped by the lake. Warm, moist air off Okanagan Lake helps hold a cloud inversion over the valley, giving near-constant cloud through December and January, while sunshine is often found about 20 minutes up the nearby mountains.

Snow leaves an aluminum roof as a slab rather than melting off slowly, which is why our Kelowna quotes mark snow guard runs over driveways, steps and decks. Ice damming at cold eaves is a warranty exclusion; it starts with heat leaking into the attic, so ventilation and insulation are part of our inspection.

Calm air most days, fire wind on the worst

Kelowna has the highest share of calm wind observations of any major Canadian city, about 39%. The danger is the exception: the 2003 fire was driven by constant wind, and in 2023 wind carried fire across a lake. Our roofs are warranted to 193 km/h (120 mph) installed to manufacturer specification, and every Interlock® panel hooks into the ones beside, above and below it, leaving a gust nothing loose to catch.