What happened to winter?

 It's the third week of February, the high temperature will be in the 40s and the weather is presently a thunder storm.  Very much unlike usual winter weather, so no surprise that snowdrops and winter aconite are in flower, along with early crocus and witch hazel. Never even touched our little snow thrower and that's good because Mrs. Phactor has her new electric vehicle plugged in there now.  Snowdrops usually  flower near the end Feb or the first week of March. The whole yard turns Scillla blue by the second week of March. But except for a couple of artic blasts, the winter of 2022-23 has been quite mild. But the Artic blasts may have killed a couple of TPP's plants.  A dwarf Tsuga is clearly dead (TPP has had great trouble trying to grow this plant over the years).  Too hot, too dry, and maybe too cold in the wrong time of year.  So even though the winter has almost been a no-show, lingering drought and brief sudden cold can be a bad combination.