Quite so, but it didn’t hurt to have one of the warmest Decembers in recorded history. They say god looks out for babies and fools.
The weather helped smooth things for the solutions that would have happened anyway.
The weather made it nicer, and easier, but it wasn’t what made the dire predictions ridiculous.
Nightmarish predictions of the downfall of the “enemies” of Russia are a staple of the anti-America/anti-West converts.