Spring has sprung, almost - in February?

Here in the upper midwest February has been a winter month for as long as the Phactor can, uh, uh, oh, something, period.  And both my faithful PC and my fancy satellite-signal updating watch say today is the 17th of February, and the high today will be 50F.  The earliest any plant has ever flowered in the Phactors' gardens, not counting the silly chickweed which is already in flower, is March 1st.  On the route to work a favorite hedgerow, long neglected, is filled with snowdrops and aconite, and they are in full bloom, an event always ahead of the Phactors' shady gardens.  The tens of thousands of scilla that will turn our yard blue are poking up everywhere along with all the other early bulbs.  Still witchhazel usually wins the trophy for earliest in bloom.  It's going to take quite a bit of mental resetting, maybe by satellite signal, to start thinking of February as spring.  A terrifying thought just occurred; field research will start earlier than ever and overlap even more of the semester!  How to ruin a decent morning's late winter revery.  Pass the seed catalogues and a margarita, please, and we'll see if we can adjust.