Wintertime in the Northern hemisphere is usually a cold affair spanning at least a couple of months. The winters of 2022-23 and 2023-24 were extra-mild. That, coupled with a massive boost in LNG supply from the United States, lulled many playing the gas market into a false sense of security: there was so much gas around; no amount of demand could lead to a price spike. Except it could, and it just did. This winter was off to a pretty cold start in Europe as early as October. Gas buyers in the EU had stocked up on gas in the storage caverns across…