So here I am in zone 7b (Queens,NYC) we have not dropped below freezing yet and the 10 day forecast shows December 9^th as the first day expected to be below freezing.

My in pot trees have recently dropped their leaves but 3 of my 4 in ground trees still have leaves, so I’m wondering is this a flute or is climate change going to allow me to be able to plant fig tree varieties which require a longer season to ripen? 

Any comments on how other factors besides temperature affects ripening times, such as; sunshine intensity or amount of daylight hours per day?

Everything you mentioned affects ripening times.  This was a very warm fall for N America but the other side of the northern hemisphere is very cold.  There's no reason to expect this every year going forward although I hope it does stay like this.

Interesting question and probably studied more for wine grape production rather than figs so there should be some scientific data there.

My experience this year.  in mid November I had some nice looking Battaglia green, VS Melisi and CdD Blanc figs ripen.  They looked nice and the pulp was dark red (have photos).  The taste was not that great and maybe the pulp was too dark red probably because they took a long time to ripen in the cool November temperatures and low light intensity. 
photosynthesis is driven by light energy and in the N.E. the sun is not very strong in November.

IMO you may be able to grow late ripening figs in Zone 7 but don't expect those knock out tastes that the Californians tell us about. 

If I was in your zone, I simply would not bother with the very late varieties, unless you intend to bring them into a green house (with lots of light), to continue the ripening process or perhaps give them a head start in early spring. Over here my trees stay outdoors without protection.
I'm in zone 8b and picked my last Preto this past week and still have a couple that most likely will not ripen this year, despite having a 75 degree weather.
I have several trees that attempted to put on a second crop but they will not make it.
In order to eat figs, before anything else, I will make sure that I have the right Celeste variety (the one that does not drop its fruit). My tree has been improving with age and has been my most productive fig variety in pot. It ripens way before many others and it should give you enough time to pick those figs in your zone.
Initially I was going to let this variety go in order to make room for some other exotic names. The flavor was what I could describe as sweet, but after four years it has become a top flavor that I enjoy every summer, especially when many exotic names end up disappointing due to lack of production or flavor. In the end, the well cared for "few", makes more sense than the neglected "many". Give your trees some TLC and they might surprise you.

rcanto – while I agree that we can’t expect this warm weather late in the season every year, I suspect the trend has been later frost dates but I just have not kept good records over the years in my garden.

pino – so it seems besides the temperature the amount & angle of the sun plays a big part to ripening fruit, the figs you mentioned ripening, were they in containers outside? 

Yeah, well, the Californians not only have it better with growing figs, their wine grapes are also certainly much better than what comes out of the vineyards out on the east end of Long Island.

Sas – Interesting, that even with 75 degree temperatures all of your fruit won’t ripen, I guess that means there is more to this ripening process than high temperature.  I did recently get an air layer of Improved Celeste from Tony at Mountain Figs and I am hopeful this will do well for me, most seem to rate it highly.

If posting pictures was as easy as it used to be, I would show you a couple of trees with at least over a dozen figs on them unable to ripen. Once it starts to get cool at night, it over.
I believe that you will be very happy with the improved Celeste. Let us know when the time comes.

Hi,
Your choice, your risk ... But, if you have enough space for those extra trees ... or If you want hit&miss years ... Why not ?
I'm done with hit&miss - Been there with plums ... That got me mad !
I don't have the extra space for those extras. So I'm thinning the herd to only keep what ripens reliably year after year for me. I'm in Zone7 too .
You may have more patience than I do ...
We here had our first frosts this Monday 28th of November. They used to be here by the 15th October . So this year, the first frost date is late by one month and a half.
I expect the first frosts to get back to a more standard schedule in the following years. So no, I'm not planting orange trees neither lemon trees nor olive trees ... But that would be a fun experiment ... ( a costy one too )
Good luck !

jdsfrance - No I don't have a lot of space or patience for non producers, I have enough to keep me busy with blueberries, raspberries etc. So what are the varieties that you have narrowed it down to for reliability in zone 7?

I'm in zone 5b and some of the late types tasted great! I have B Green, and the last fig was the best of the season, sometime in mid November. Sure many did not ripen, but many did. I would certainly grow them in zone 7. I'm not eliminating none of the late ones even though I only get 1/3 a crop. I found those to be some of the best figs all year. In the fall here it is less humid and I can let the figs hang forever, they are not rotting, or molding, but wrinkling well. The taste is really good. In general though i agree, that the late ripeners are not easy, and should be grown first in long season areas. One of the secrets is to let them hang and hang and hang. As long as possible.

Thanks Drew.

I agree with Drew 100%. Late figs holds their flavor and taste much better than early ones. Had my last Black Madeira a week ago,it was green but tasted just as good. When I first got into figs I was told by everyone you can't grow Black Madeira in ground in New Jersey. It's been 3'yrs and each year more and more figs produced and at an earlier date. I have about 70 in ground trees so far have only wrapped the high valued ones. Out of those unwrapped only loss one last year. Basically what I'm saying is you can get all the advice and opinion but you'll never know usless you tried for yourself, each location is different.

Thank you guys, I guess what I'm hearing is mostly stick to the more reliable, early ripening good producers (that I have) but maybe I can experiment with one or two of the "fancy" highly flavored late ripening varieties, which may or may not produce every year but when they do it would be a special treat.
 
And since these may take a few years to perform well, maybe I should start looking now for plants, air layers or cuttings of Figo Preto or Black Madeira or Italian 258.  Any recommendations for a good source for any of these? please let me know.

The other thing you can do is plant the varieties that will ripen good figs in cool weather.  Hardy Chicago is the most reliable for me.  It will take longer to ripen them but it will produce good figs when the daytime highs are in the low 60s.  Salem Dark can also do that but it doesn't produce figs as long as my HC does.  It's possible that being in ground helps my HC.