January roared but February screams!

Railway Education Center

Western Washington and the Northwest Railway Museum are experiencing a severe bout of winter weather.  Schools are closed, as are many businesses, several Amtrak trains have been canceled, and even the State Legislature has shut down.  Already, February has seen more snow in the Puget Sound lowlands than any time since records have been kept, and the Museum has been in the thick of it.  

Locomotive 4024

Nearly two feet of snow has fallen at the Museum in the space of just eight days.  While some has melted, most has not. And the winds have been howling: drifting snow is almost four feet deep in places.  The Museum is in a region where snow plows and sanding trucks are rare; this is a weather event experienced only once every 25 years or so.  Check out a few of today’s seemingly unworldly photos, all from an elevation that rarely sees snow for more than a day or two. (Click on the photos to see full resolution!)