Cold Lake is a city in northeastern Alberta, Canada and is named after the lake nearby.HistoryCold Lake was first recorded on a 1790 map, by the name of Coldwater Lake. Originally three communities, Cold Lake was formed by merging the Town of Grand Centre, the Town of Cold Lake, and Medley (Canadian Forces Base 4 Wing) on October 1, 1996. Grand Centre was renamed Cold Lake South, and the original Cold Lake is known as Cold Lake North. Because of its origins, the area is also known as the Tri-Town.GeographyThe city is situated in Alberta's "Lakeland" district, 300km northeast of Edmonton, near the Alberta-Saskatchewan provincial border. The area surrounding the city is sparsely populated, and consists mostly of farmland. The Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, located to the north of the city, is the Canadian equivalent to the United States Air Force's Nellis Air Force Range.ClimateCold Lake's climate is humid continental (Köppen climate classification Dfb).DemographicsIn the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the City of Cold Lake recorded a population of 14,961 living in 5,597 of its 6,657 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 13,839. With a land area of 59.92km2, it had a population density of in 2016.