Time to turn the heat on--or is it?

This morning, the temperature was 60 degrees; tonight it's 40, and by all accounts, will stay cold. Winter is here at last, and the heat, which was turned on briefly on November 20 but has been off ever since (with the assist from the occasional fire in the wood stove), will now be on until spring.
This is not normal. Our first frost, a light one, was November 20. When I started gardening in my house twenty years ago, the first frost was in late September. The creeping phlox (phlox subulata) above is in the garden of Paul and Dottie Rodney on Walnut street; it has completed its chill cycle (which normally happens during the winter) and broken dormancy--the phlox thinks it is spring. Yesterday Paul was outdoors in his yard and remarked to me as I walked by, "I'm out here watching my phlox." A couple of doors down, Susan Shaw's forsythia has started to bloom. Sometimes this happens during the January thaw--but never before in the late fall. Usually, we are deep in the early stages of winter chill by now.
Last year's frost date was November 8. Full moons usually bring northwest winds and cold clear weather, but we went through the November full moon on the 5th without having a frost.
What is the meaning of this phenomenon? Having plants bloom out of season upsets the process of seed production, and threatens the survival of the species. It also deprives nectar-seeking insects of their spring food supply--they are not active at this time of year, and some time their migrations with the bloom period of their food source. They will be looking for these flowers next spring, and they will not be there. Plants in our climate have evolved over tens of thousands of years in response to a certain length of winter followed by the other seasons in order, and can't adapt quickly. Some may disappear over the next few years if this climate change persists.
Global warming is a terrifying and powerful phenomenon. And unfortunately, turning on the heat adds to the problem.