Record hot spring in contiguous U.S. - crushing old record for "most extreme season".

From Jeff Masters' Wunderblog, here:

Spring 2012 in the contiguous U.S. demolished the old records for hottest spring and most extreme season of any kind, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) .... The March - April - May spring season was 5.2°F above average--the largest temperature departure from average of any season on record for the contiguous United States. What's truly remarkable is the margin the old record was broken by--spring 2012 temperatures were a full 1°F above the previous most extreme season, the winter of 1999 - 2000. All-time seasonal temperature records are very difficult to break, and are usually broken by only a tenth of a degree. To see the old record crushed by a full degree is a stunning and unparalleled event in U.S. meteorological history.

Meanwhile, a local paper runs an op-ed from a woman indicating concerns about climate are groundless, only a ruse.  But placing political ideology before climate science makes for poor long-run prioritizing, as another op-ed points out.