Winter storms are not exclusively a mountain phenomenon in the West. Those occurring at lower elevations of the Pacific Northwest could cause travel chaos in areas that normally don’t get as much snow.

On November 19, 1921, 103 years ago today, a major storm hit the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon and Washington with up to four feet of snow, and the city of Portland with accumulating ice.

Snow slides along the Columbia River highway were reported to be four to six feet deep. But one of the most notable impacts of the storm was the nine trains that were stuck in the Columbia Gorge for several days.

And it took an astonishing effort to deliver both heat and food to the passengers and crew of a stranded train east of Portland.

According to The Oregonian, a three-quarter-mile pipeline was laid from the Bridal Veil Lumber Company to supply the steam train’s boilers with enough water to heat the cabin.

The train conductor walked to the only store in the area to buy as much food as possible for his passengers, which was then distributed by the crew.

And if that wasn’t enough, one of the lumber company employees provided a gramophone for entertainment. As long as the train was still stuck, “there was almost continuous dancing.”

Snow and ice storms are typical of Oregon’s Columbia Gorge and Willamette Valley, despite their lower elevation and proximity to the milder air of the Pacific Ocean.

That happens when cold air from the Interior Northwest or Canada flows westward through the canyon and valley and gets stuck in place as a wet storm pushes into the Pacific Ocean.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at Weather.com and has been covering national and international weather reports since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite subjects. Contact him Blue sky, X (formerly Twitter), Wires And Facebook.​