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West Kelowna  

West Kelowna woman spots unusual sighting on Okanagan Lake

Unusual sighting on the lake

A West Kelowna woman and her friend came across an unusual sight Friday morning along the beach near Casa Loma while walking their dog.

It's a walk they take on a regular basis, except this time, the two came across something they really weren't expecting to see.

With the sun rising around 7:30 a.m., the pair decided to take a walk along the water, and that's when they noticed something. A big portion of Okanagan Lake had frozen over and was shattering along the sandy beach front.

Carleen Cook says it was an incredible moment, and one she and her friend were extremely grateful to see.

“We heard a noise and it was moving. The whole lake that was iced over was pushing up on itself and then breaking into all those shards. I thought it was the coolest thing," expressed Cook.

"We were in the right place at the right time because it really felt like an unusual event. Our jaws were dropped and we didn’t know if this was real or not. I felt like we were in another world almost. It was unreal to watch.”

The pair took 30 minutes to soak in the experience before taking the dog home and returning for a second glance. They stayed and watched the ice melt until well into the afternoon, saying that in a weird way it was quite a calming experience.

According to an interview Okanagan Historical society president Bob Hayes did with CBC several years back, Okanagan Lake has not been frozen solid since 1986, although he admits that could be up for debate as some people believe it to be 1969.



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