While most of Europe has been experiencing a very cold winter, here in Tirana the winter has been rather mild. Only these past few days the temperatures have gotten below the freezing point during the night. The snow is always held back by the mountain ranges surrounding the city and it rarely snows in. Only back in 2003 it was a rather colder winter where it snowed for a couple of days, just enough to make a small snowman.
In fact for several years now the cold has rarely shown its bite and I suppose people like it that way. However, though not scientifically proven, every time the winter has been like this the summer seems to have gotten hotter. At least that is my impression.