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Kamloops

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This article is about the city of Kamloops, British Columbia. For federal and provincial electoral districts with the name Kamloops, see Kamloops (electoral districts).
Kamloops, British Columbia
Coat of arms of Kamloops, British Columbia
Coat of arms
Official logo of Kamloops, British Columbia
Map
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
DistrictThompson-Nicola District
Founded1818 (fur trading post)
Incorporated1893
Government
 • MayorTerry Lake
 • Governing bodyKamloops City Council
 • MPBetty Hinton
 • MLAsClaude Richmond
Kevin Krueger
Area
 • City
5,686.19 km2 (2,195.45 sq mi)
Elevation
360 m (1,180 ft)
Population
 (2006)
 • City
80,376
 • Density16.3/km2 (42/sq mi)
 • Metro
92,882
Time zoneUTC-8 (PST)
Postal code span
V2B to V2E
Area code+1-250
WebsiteKamloops.BC.ca

50°40′33.8″N 120°20′26.6″W / 50.676056°N 120.340722°W / 50.676056; -120.340722

Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River and near Kamloops Lake. It is the seat of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. Kamloops is also the Tournament Capital of Canada. It is ranked 37th on the list of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada with 92,882 residents in 2006.

Geography and Location

Kamloops is situated at 50°43'N 120°25'W, in the Thompson Valley (UTC-8) and the Mountain Cordillera Ecozone. The central core of the city is located in the valley near the confluence of the North and South branches of the Thompson River. Suburbs stretch for more than a dozen kilometers along both North and South branches, as well as to the steep hillsides along the south portion of the city. Kamloops Indian Band areas begin just to the northeast of the downtown core but are not located within the city limits. As a result of this placement, it is necessary to leave Kamloops' city limits and pass through the band lands before re-entering the city limits to access the communities of Raleigh and Heffley Creek. Kamloops is surrounded by the smaller communities of Heffley Creek, Knutsford, Cherry Creek, Pritchard, Campbell Creek, Savona, Scotch Creek, Adams Lake, Chase, and various others, many of which are included in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD).

History

Kamloops and the Thompson River, 1886

The Kamloops area was exclusively inhabited by the Secwepemc (Shuswap) nation (part of the Interior Salish language group) prior to the arrival of European settlers. The first European explorers arrived in 1811, and David Stewart set up Fort Kamloops, a fur trading post, on the south side of the river junction for the Pacific Fur Company in 1812. The North West Company quickly established Fort Thompson on the northeast side of the junction, and the following year the Pacific Fur Company left the area. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company merged with the North West Company and took control of the fur trade at Fort Thompson. In 1842, a new Fort Kamloops was built on the northwest side of the junction.

The gold rush of the 1860s and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s brought further growth, resulting in the City of Kamloops being incorporated in 1893 with a population of about 500.

"Kamloops" is the anglicized version of the Shuswap word "Tk'emlups", meaning 'meeting of the waters'. Shuswap is still actively spoken in the area by members of the Kamloops Indian Band.

Industry

Major Kamloops-area industries include primary resource processing such as Weyerhaeuser Pulp and Sawmill, Tolko-Heffley Creek Plywood and Veneer, LaFarge Cement, Highland-Valley Copper Mine (in Logan Lake), and various other industries. There are tertiary services as well, such as the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and Pollard Banknote (which makes the lottery tickets) and NRI distribution, among many others. Kamloops is also a transportation hub for the region due to its connections to Highways 5 and 97C, the Trans-Canada and Yellowhead Highways. It is the first major city east of Abbotsford on the highway. Kamloops is home to a small international airport: however, there are constituent pressures to accommodate larger aircraft. Due to a persistent disagreement between the City's federal Liberal Party Mayor, Terry Lake, and the area's Conservative Member of Parliament, Betty Hinton, there is no federal funding available for the airport's expansion.[1] There has also been speculation of an inland rail port.

Climate

Locator map for Kamloops, BC

The climate of Kamloops is a semi-arid steppe climate (Koppen climate classification BSk) due to its rainshadow location. While situated in a semi-arid valley, Kamloops has winters that are generally mild and very short with an occasional cold snap where temperatures can drop to around -30 °C (-22 °F) when arctic air floods over the Rocky Mountains into the interior. Snow can occur from November to March, but most of it falls over a few weeks in December and January. Winter mean minimum temperature is -7.6 °C (20 °F) in January.

Perhaps surprisingly, considering that Kamloops is located at 50° latitude north, summers are quite hot with prevailing dry, and sunny weather. The average July maximum temperature is 28.3 °C (83 °F) and would be higher if not for occasional incursions of cool northerly airmasses. In most years, one might confuse this city with any in southern California, as summer temperatures come close to or even exceed 40 °C (104 °F). Humidity is generally very low and nighttime temperatures are moderate. These hot, dry conditions make the forest fire threat favourable in the region.

Spring arrives very early, sometimes in February, due to mild air spilling over the coastal mountains from the Pacific Ocean. Fall is generally a pleasant and a mostly dry season.

Kamloops lies in the "rain shadow" leeward of the Coast Mountains and is biogeographically connected to similar semi-desert and desert areas in the Okanagan region, the Osoyoos area, and the central parts of Washington and Oregon state as well as intermontane areas of Nevada in the U.S. These areas of relatively similar climate have many distinctive native plants and animals in common, such as Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), prickly pear cactus (Opuntia fragilis in this case), rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis), Black widow spiders and Lewis's Woodpecker.




Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Extreme Daily Maximum °C 15.9 15.0 22.8 33.0 37.2 38.9 40.6 39.6 34.6 31.3 22.8 16.1
Average Daily Maximum °C -0.8 3.6 10.5 16.5 21.3 24.8 28.3 27.8 22.0 13.7 5.2 0.1 14.4
Average Daily Minimum °C -7.6 -4.4 -0.9 2.9 7.5 11.3 13.7 13.2 8.5 3.2 -1.7 -6.1 3.3
Extreme Daily Minimum °C -37.2 -28.3 -26.1 -8.8 -5.6 1.1 3.3 0.6 -3.9 -17.1 -28.3 -36.1

Average Precipitation mm 22.9 14.4 11.7 14.6 24.4 35.2 29.5 29.1 28.0 16.2 24.1 28.9 270.0
Average Total Snow cm 21.8 11.3 3.5 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 12.2 26.1 75.5
Average Sunshine h 58.3 91.3 156.8 201.5 250.6 255.0 310.0 286.6 212.0 140.0 65.2 47.4 2074.6
Data[1] is for Kamloops Airport (YKA), in the city of Kamloops, 12 km from city centre.


Current weather conditions and forecasts can be found at Environment Canada's Weatheroffice website[2].

Sports

Kamloops hosted the 1993 Canada Summer Games. It co-hosted (with Vancouver and Kelowna) the 2006 IIHF World U-20 Hockey Championship from December 26, 2005, to January 5, 2006. It hosted the 2006 BC Summer Games. The city is known as, and holds a Canadian trademark as, the Tournament Capital of Canada.[citation needed]

Sun Peaks Resort is a nearby ski and snowboard hill. Olympic medalist skier Nancy Greene is director of skiing at Sun Peaks and the chancellor of Thompson Rivers University. The Overlander Ski Club runs the Stake Lake cross country ski area with 50 km of trails. Kamloops is home to world-famous mountain bikers such as Wade Simmons and Matt Hunter[3]. In 2007, the Kamloops Bike Ranch opened near Juniper Ridge. The Kamloops Rotary Skatepark located at McArthur Island is one of the largest skateboard parks in Canada.[citation needed]

Kamloops is home to the Western Hockey League's Kamloops Blazers, who play at the Interior Savings Centre, and the Canadian Junior Football League's Kamloops Broncos, who play at Hillside Stadium.

Demographics

(according to Statistics Canada 2001 census[4])
Population: 86,491.
Growth Rate (1996-2001): 1.2%
Total Private Dwellings: 36,807
Area: 297.57 km²
Density: 290.7 people per km²

Visible Minority Status[4]

  • Total visible minority population (excluding Aboriginal peoples): 4,675
    • Chinese: 1,000 or 21.3%
    • South Asian: 1,790 or 38.2%
    • Black: 340 or 7.2%
    • Filipino: 305 or 6.5%
    • Latin America: 130 or 2.7%
    • Southeast Asian: 150 or 3.2%
    • Arab: 35 or .74%
    • West Asian: 30 or .64%
    • Korean: 150 or 3.2%
    • Japanese: 690 or 14.7%
    • Non-classified visible minorities: 10 or .21%
    • Mulitiple visible minorites: 45 or .96%


Religious Groups[4]

Media

Education

Public Schools

Public schools in the Kamloops area are part of School District 73 Kamloops/Thompson[7].

Post-Secondary

Kamloops is home to Thompson Rivers University[8], an undergraduate degree-granting university with satellite campuses in Clearwater, Barriere, Chase, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, Cache Creek, Ashcroft, and Lillooet. TRU also has an open-distance learning division. Kamloops is also home to a satellite campus of Simon Fraser University. TRU has began to offer MBA, M.Ed, and M.Sc. programs as well as undergraduate degrees.

Neighbourhoods

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ Kamloops Weather Summary - from Canada Weather Office
  2. ^ Current weather - Environment Canada's Weatheroffice
  3. ^ Specialized.com
  4. ^ a b c Kamloops Community Profile - Statistics Canada. 2002. 2001 Community Profiles. Released June 27, 2002. Last modified: 2005-11-30. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 93F0053XIE.
  5. ^ Kamloops Daily News
  6. ^ Kamloops This Week
  7. ^ School District 73
  8. ^ Thompson Rivers University
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