The winter that wasn't

Yesterday it was sunny and in the 50's here in upstate NY- beautiful weather! However, it certainly doesn't feel like the beginning of January. There are none of the usual signs of winter here- piles of dirty unmelted snow that linger under trees and in culverts, clusters of stones scattered over the edges of lawns from where the snowplow pushed snow out of the roads. Even the plants are getting confused- trees are starting to bud and some bulbs, like tulips, are starting to push through the ground. To add to the strangeness of it all, this weather isn't limited to upstate NY. Winter resorts in Europe, in the Alps, are really suffering economically due to the lack of snow. People in Lithuania kept telling us that the weather there was going to change- it was going to get really cold and snow, but it never did while we were there. You can't help but wonder what this "confusion" of weather means.........