Winters in the UK (and the rest of Europe) are also getting shorter. After 30 year studying when a wide variety of plants and trees come into bloom, it has been found that Spring is now 6 - 8 days earlier, and Autumn 3 days later than three decades ago. News story here.
This is interesting and flies in the face of what I have been taught about the Gulf Stream my whole life. I’m sure climate is much more complex than what could ever be presented in this forum but I cannot believe the effects of the Gulf Stream can be ignored. Warm water from the Carribean does travel north to Europe. Surely this has an impact. Does it not keep the ports of northern Europe ice free year round?
Yes, sea temperatures in NW Europe are higher than they would otherwise be, and the Gulf Stream does indeed keep this part of the world warmer.
But in general, west coasts of large land masses will always be warmer, beacuse the sea is very good at retaining heat. Winds generally circulated from west to east, so the west coast will get warm(er) winds from the sea. Hence western Canada is warmer than the rest of the country - but not as much warmer as western Europe on the same latitude (which gets an extra boost of warmth from the Gulf Stream)
The article that rowrrbazzle mentioned says that the Gulf Stream warms both eastern North America and western Europe by about the same amount, a few degrees, which does not explain the 15-20C difference in winter temperatures. As rowrrbazzle said, the author’s theory is that it’s the presence of the Rocky Mountains that is responsible, as in this illustration:
http://www.americanscientist.org/content/AMSCI/AMSCI/Image/FullImage_20066110455_866.jpg
Yup, nobody deals with winter more pathetically than Londoners 
I was going on average - but I was born in 1986, so I probably just have experienced less really cold winters.
I can remember the winter of 1962/63 which was one of the coldest on record. The very cold weather lasted from Christmas till March , without any let-up. You can read about it towards the bottom of this page .
Are they worse than Virginia Beach was a few years ago? “Oh my god! There’s snow/! We…we…we can’t send school buses to pick up children! What if they slip on that half inch of snow? We must cancel school!”
After this happening a couple of times for a couple of years in a row, they’ve gotten a bit better, much to the dismay of school children across the city.
Nah, Londoners are even worse, because they can’t think for themselves, let alone their kids. “What, all trains cancelled? How can I get home? Look at the queue for the taxi!” From Zone 3 commuters, who could probably walk it within an hour if they got themselves moving.
Here in Atlanta (more accurately, Gwinnett County) I have seen school canceled because it was forecast to snow. They looked really stupid when it didn’t.
This is turning into a Monty Python sketch.
When I were a lad, we closed down the mills if it started to drizzle, and the foreman flogged us all the way home, and we were glad of it.
You were lucky…
Interesting. I know the river near to me froze several times in the early 20th century, and never since, and also that major river walls & flood defences were constructed from the 1930s onwards…
Yes and when you got home your mother grabbed you gently by the throat and forced another dripping butty down yer neck.
By 'eck lad the kids these days don’t know what they’re missing…bah gum
Heh, I tried to walk from Clapham to Blackfriars (Zone 2 - Zone 1) but I gave up after 90 min.
It’s five miles - how slowly do you walk?
Hehe, when I were a lass, walked form work in the City to Tooting, and glad of it. 
Nah, not glad at all, next tube strike day I got taxi. I think it would be harder in the snow.
As for snow, hasn’t anyone mentioned the “wrong kind of snow” yet? OR the autumnal surprise shock horror of there being “leaves on the line”?
Ah, we do love talking about the weather. (I agree that winters seem to be getting milder in general though (born 1961, for the sake of anyone keeping a comparision chart)
Blame privatisation 
Businessmen with no railway experience couldn’t understand why such a quant concept as allowing extra minutes during autumn by operating a fully-planned leaf fall timetable still existed, and so did away with it. Thankfully, as that example shows, this decision has been reversed.
Of course it’s not just simply “leaves on the line” but a thick gunk made of compressed fallen leaves that reduce adhesion on the track. Over the last few years this has not been so much a problem because of the use of special “leaf-buster” trains. These clean off the leaves with water jets and then coat the lines with a mixture sand and glue. Also more attention is paid to trimming line-side trees.
As for the “wrong sort of snow”. This was the very fine powdery sort that found its way through the air-intake mesh of railway engine compartments and caused havoc with the electrics. I think that has now also cured with the appropriate modifications.
I seem to recall some years back the trains were delayed 'cos we had the wrong sort of rain.
What?..the wet sort …dammit
Something else has come to my mind about leaves-on-the-line - am I right in thinking that it’s only since the 1960s, and the end of steam power, that trees overhanging lines or on embankments have been allowed to grow (being a fire risk before then)? In which case, the 80s and 90s would be about the right time for a lot of trees to have reached the maturity needed to dump a whole load of leaves onto the line.