I recall from my early school days being told in geography class that The British Isles were warmed by the Gulf Stream. This was a very difficult concept for a youngster to comprend. Seeing pictures in a book did little to enhance my perception of just how that body of water could warm up those islands!
My daughter attended the U. of Reading outside of London when she was an undergranduate in 1992. I went over in December after she had completed the term, and we took a trip up to Edinburough. There was snow up route # 4, but not much. It certainly was not very warm, but when I left Maine our temperature was below zero F. I had dressed accordingly, but during my visit to The British Isles, I was too warm! We met some vacationing tourists from Austrailia who told us tha they were not warm enough! It is, certainly, an interesting endeavor trying to perceive people's concepts of cold.
Here in Northern Maine we usually have snow during October. This year it was too warm, and rainy during that month. My son and I went down to Connecticut about 550 miles from home, to have Thanksgiving with another son, and could walk in shirt sleeves, Upon our arrival home there were six inches of freshly fallen snow in my quarter mile long drive way. I had to put the plow onto my car, and dig out the drive way. Now, the weather man promises rain begining,about mid-night tomorrow night. Oh, well, common place for New England. Heaven only knows what Ole Man Winter has in store for us after the new year.