When flexbox items wrap in column mode, container does not grow its width

The Problem

This looks like a fundamental deficiency in flex layout.

A flex container in column-direction will not expand to accommodate additional columns. (This is not a problem in flex-direction: row.)

This question has been asked many times (see list below), with no clean answers in CSS.

It's hard to pin this as a bug because the problem occurs across all major browsers. But it does raise the question:

How is it possible that all major browsers got the flex container to expand on wrap in row-direction but not in column-direction?

You would think at least one of them would get it right. I can only speculate on the reason. Maybe it was a technically difficult implementation and was shelved for this iteration.

UPDATE: The issue appears to be resolved in Edge v16.

Illustration of the Problem

The OP created a useful demo illustrating the problem. I'm copying it here: http://jsfiddle.net/nwccdwLw/1/

Workaround Options

Hacky solutions from the Stack Overflow community:

"It seems this issue cannot be solved only with CSS, so I propose you a JQuery solution."
"It's curious that most browsers haven't implemented column flex containers correctly, but the support for writing modes is reasonably good. Therefore, you can use a row flex container with a vertical writing mode."

More Analysis

Chromium Bug Report
Mark Amery's answer

Other Posts Describing the Same Problem

Flex box container width doesn't grow
How can I make a display:flex container expand horizontally with its wrapped contents?
Flex-flow: column wrap. How to set container's width equal to content?
Flexbox flex-flow column wrap bugs in chrome?
How do I use "flex-flow: column wrap"?
Flex container doesn't expand when contents wrap in a column
flex-flow: column wrap, in a flex box causing overflow of parent container
Html flexbox container does not expand over wrapped children
Flexbox container and overflowing flex children?
How can I make a flexbox container that stretches to fit wrapped items?
Flex container calculating one column, when there are multiple columns
Make container full width with flex
Flexbox container resize possible?
Flex-Wrap Inside Flex-Grow
Flexbox grow to contain
Expand flexbox element to its contents?
flexbox column stretch to fit content
https://stackoverflow.com/q/48406237/3597276
flex-flow: column wrap doesn't stretch the parent element's width
Why doesn't my <ul> expand width to cover all the <li>?
https://stackoverflow.com/q/55709208/3597276
Flexbox wrap not increasing the width of parent?
Absolute Flex container not changing to the correct width with defined max-height

Late to the party, but was still running into this issue YEARS later. Ended up finding a solution using grid. On the container you can use

display: grid;
grid-auto-flow: column;
grid-template-rows: repeat(6, auto);

I have an example on CodePen that toggles between the flexbox issue and the grid fix: https://codepen.io/MandeeD/pen/JVLdLd