The Lower 48 states had its warmest winter in 121 years of record-keeping, NOAA announced this morning. Temperatures averaged over the country between December and February were nearly five degrees above the 20th-century average. Every state but two were warmer than normal and all six New England states set winter records. The warmth of this winter marked a stunning reversal from the previous year in New England, when it witnessed one of its harshest winters on record. Rather than punishing cold and paralyzing winter storms, temperatures regularly shot up into the 40s and 50s. Burlington, Vt., and Concord, N.H., tallied just half of their normal snowfall. Bare spots were common at ski resorts normally up to their shoulders in snow. “If we didn’t have snowmaking, it would have been a disaster,” Win Smith, […]