Don't lose hope yet.  I was getting ready to toss one of my potted figs that I left outside too long.  It had been in the greenhouse for 2 months and looked totally dead.  Last week I noticed some little green sprouts and it is coming back.

I am predicting a lot of rain this summer. the weather have changed a lot these days

a 15 year old tree with a foot wide trunk died

Mature trees with a healthy root structure planted where the ground was snow covered or next to a warm foundation will probably grow out again from the ground even if the trunk and branches were killed by the cold.

Hang in there guys.  I am in 7b and my winter protected 6-7 year old trees all died back to the ground this year.  If that was not bad enough, the new Carolina beetle plague has attacked the dead trunks.  Have cut all back to the ground. Just in the last week or so I am starting to see new shoots appearing from underground nodes.  We warm up a lot earlier than you do although later than Joe in Athens so all may not be lost yet...just taking forever. Hope, patience and Good luck.

 It still works in the 5 boroughs, North Jersey and Connecticut.  Note grape vine shading the car.   :-)

Great picture, Joe.

7 out of 9 in-ground trees are coming back to life in zone 7a.  These were all unprotected and just 1 year since planted in the ground with the exception of a 3 year old tree.  The other two may still come back to life.  Top growth is dead on all of them though.

George,
I recently pruned several large trees (5) in The Bronx and they did have extensive damage, even on 1" and larger limbs, but 2" and larger limbs and trunks are still alive, with green cambium layers. Several of the 1" - 2" limbs actually were dead on 1/2 of the entire length ( 1/2 lengthwise had brown, dead cambium).

Most of this damage occurred after the cold spell in February. I have pictures of healthy limbs on these trees at the end of January, but brown, dead limbs on the same trees in early March. 

Pete,
  I've seen that same kind of lengthwise 1/2-dead 1/2-live effect twice now.  One was on some cuttings I received from forum member. The other was from some cuttings I just picked up from the roadside here in Central NJ.  The tree was wrapped (though not well) and reasonably well protected from wind behind a garage in a tree-filled suburban back yard.  I think the owner just cut everything to the ground to start fresh.  Most of the branches I collected will turn out to be dead, but there was a hint of green at the bottom of 1 or 2 of them. 
  Yesterday I talked to a nursery owner with lots of relatives in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, NJ -- an area rich with Italian heritage.  His relatives are all reporting dieback down to the ground on their unprotected trees.  (...no mention of protected ones.)

  I just hope people don't start yanking them out prematurely...
Jim

I can vouch that there are many others off the forum who've suffered a loss too. Last week I was at Queens Garden Center in Whitestone off the cross island. The owner and I were talking, he told me that he has gotten dozens of calls from people asking if he had any trees for sale because they've all been lost. He said he's never seem a winter with so much fig damage.

I actually did take a few cuttings from a local tree on May 2nd, no leaves.. Nothing and the tree appeared dead, but I thought what the hell I might as well try and root it... Rooted within days in a ziplock bag! Yet the tree still looks dead... So I suspect those who are predicting that the trees are just taking a snooze may be right!'

This is what we have in Queens today. This was a glorious tree. I have a 3 year old from the mother.

Rafael- 

Just got back from a food shopping trip, and I deliberately drove through my "special" fig route on the way home.  Not one of the dozens of the larger, in-ground fig trees have shown even the slightest hint of sprouting.  Most of the older trees, have that burnt, rusty look on most of the branches.  A few of my favorite trees that have been around for decades, with 6"-10" diameter trunks, look just as bad as all the rest of the other fig trees.  I have a feeling that if any of these trees have survived, it will be from newer sprouts growing from around the roots.  All the older growth seems to have been toasted by the freezing winter.  Can it be possible that all these trees are still in a very deep coma?

Most of my containerized trees are gone and the few that I had hoped would maybe send out some green buds.... are looking worse as the days go by.  But, on a happier note....my brand new, "OLYMPIAN" fig trees are growing quite vigorously, have grown some new leaves, and have put on a few inches over the last month.  At least I have something to water.

Frank

Hey Joe just a clarification-that's not my tree, I have my own that is 3 years old in container. But I love that mother tree-I met my daughter's mother at that house!

Joe-Athens1945...

Scratched many of these fig trees.  Instead of a nice juicy green under the bark, I see a dry, sickly-yellow coloration.  Maybe later in the season good things will happen and the trees will resprout.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Thousands of fig trees are planted all over NYC....some neighborhoods have a fig tree in every yard.  Very sad if they were killed off by the freezing cold weather.


Frank

those old trees, mostly from italy were a treasure.

I just pruned this tree 4 hours ago, Italian Honey (Unknown Nancy Light),in the Bronx, NYC, it had lots of green buds emerging below 4'.  I was able to prune about five 30 gallon garbage bags full of cuttings, but 95% was dead wood, all branches smaller than 1-1/2" caliper.
       .
I've been given permission to prune and train the tree as a bush form.