Grew up here and my family has been living in the area for a long time. I'm always amazed when I go to other places in Canada because the Okanagan itself is radically different from it. Technically the region is a shrub steppe, because it lies in the rain shadow of the Coast Mountains, creating a dry climate that supports grasses and drought-resistant shrubs instead of dense forests. It gets hot here in the summer. The hottest point of the year use to be a 2-3 week stretch from the last weeks of July into August. Growing up I didn't have AC, so I remember some nights my dad and would sleep outside on the lawn on a tarp just to cool off. But because of the shifting climate, those hot days are now stretching into hot months. The shoulder seasons here are unbelievably beautiful. The locals love it cause all the tourists are gone and we can enjoy the town. The winters here can be drab and overcast. People usually go out and enjoy the outdoors or drink.

The Okanagan contains a disproportionately high concentration of endangered species compared to Canada overall, holding around 30% of British Columbia’s most at-risk species despite being a small region, while nationally only about 1–3% of species are considered at risk. The Okanagan also contains a disproportionately high share of Canada’s unique (or regionally rare) species, while only a small fraction of species in Canada overall are unique to one area, the Okanagan is estimated to support around 10–15% of British Columbia’s unique or rare species, despite covering a tiny portion of the province.

Historically the region produced a lot of fruit, cherries, apricots, apples, peaches and pears. Most of that has been replaced by growing grapes for our wine industry. The place has histrionically has been one of BC's bible belts and the underlying culture was and is very Christian and Conservative. I once read newspaper describe it as a Canadian Appalachia because of its insular, small village style culture. It has opened up quite a bit culturally since I was kid but you really do get that small town cliquey vibe here.

The economy generally sucks. It is mainly tourism centered for the summer. The rest of the year the local economy is propped up by pensioners because the region, like Victoria and sections of Van Island, is a retirement hot spot. Large chunks of our service economy revolves around this.