Ciao Naruto! I also applied to a few universities (on the opposite coast, though: NYU, Brown, Cornell, etc) for a PhD in Italian. So far, I've been rejected by Brown and Yale, two of the three universities with an early deadline. The next decision should be the one of NYU, as this university also had an early deadline. I must admit that I'm pretty discouraged as all the already-enrolled people I've talked to for tips told me that they had received either an admission or an interview within January, so this info + the fact that in February I got two rejections are making me start to think that if something positive had to happen, it had to happen in January. I really hope I'll be either proven wrong or be receiving a late admission. Of course, this only concerns the universities I have applied to: JH, NYU, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Notre Dame, Duke. And it's also perfectly possible that I'm being a tad dramatic.
Anyway, the response timing may vary according to countless factors, and if they told you that February is still a hot month, you have no reason to not trust them. I really hope to receive intel on the East Coast universities, though, as I'd like to start the coping process as soon as possible.
