I Call Bologna Sandwich on You Researchers

A new study has been released that Europe has just had the warmest winter and fall in 700 years. Wait one cotton-picking minute. 700 years? Was the thermometer around in 1300? No, probably not, so let's see what they do.

European climate measurements and temperature records stretch back several hundred years – UK records are the longest available, going back to 1659. Estimating historical temperatures beyond then involves scrutinizing contemporary documents and diaries.

"People in churches, or doctors, wrote diaries, and usually they also included information about weather and climate. Climate historians can use and interpret this information and translate it into a temperature value," explains Luterbacher, who worked with climate historians to compare past and recent temperatures

So, your "data" that this is the hottest winter EVAR is based on the fact that you read in some girls diary from 1289 that it was "omg, hawt out" (That's not a direct quote. It probably was more like, "me lord thinks it is too warm out to take a gander at the rose garden methinks.)
I'm sure you love making headlines that pop, but this is just merely hearsay. This is not science. I'm sorry, but let's say this was the hottest winter in 300 years. That works and that it actually true.

(via New Scientist) Freak winter is Europe's warmest for 700 years