The winter that wasn’t: Climate change is transforming Maine’s coldest season

Maine is closing the books on one of the warmest and least snowy winters on record. But it’s increasingly feeling like the new normal. “Weather varies from one year to the next, but the long-term trend is clear: The winters are much warmer than they used to be,” said state climatologist Sean Birkel of University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute. “Our winters look and feel different: more rain, less snow, more bare ground, earlier ice outs.” This winter’s weather, and the long-term warming trend, spells trouble for the snowmobile industry,...