What if winter never comes?

For the 7th and 8th of January, this has been extremely mild weather this weekend. Gave us a chance to police the yard and pick up all the limbs deposited during a wind storm a week ago. A few buds on the witch hazel are showing color; snowdrops are poking up here and there. Of course winter still has plenty of time to show up, but to be a no show at this late date is very atypical. At this rate the Phactor will be rethinking some of those zone 6 plants he's been coveting. But because we had 2 weeks of modestly cold weather, and now much milder temperatures, some plants could get fooled. It will be interesting to see how long this trend lasts.