Spring has sprung early -- potentially record early -- in much of the United States....The unseasonably warm weather has the natural world getting ahead of -- even defying -- the calendar, scientists said. Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb said what's happening is disconcerting, no matter how nice it is for people. "Sure we can't wait to shed our wool coats and hats each spring, but such warm temperatures are wreaking havoc, sight unseen on key crops," Cobb said in an email. "Here in Georgia peach buds have been robbed of necessary 'chill hours' this winter." Kim Cobb is a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.