But these photos, capturing striking scenes during some of the UK’s most extreme winters ever, show it could have been much worse.
This retro photo gallery will bring back memories for anyone who shivered through the bitter cold in 1946, 1963 or 1982.
These remarkable images show steepling snowdrifts and frozen waterfalls as Arctic conditions transform the landscape into a beautiful yet brutal winter wonderland.
They also capture communities pulling together, whether that’s strangers giving a stranded motorist a push, people grabbing a shovel and clearing the streets or a resourceful milkman ensuring customers don’t go without.
From children skating and sledging to a dog bounding through the snow, they also depict joyous scenes amid the freezing cold.
As we wait to see what this winter brings, why not snuggle up warm and enjoy these extraordinary images from years gone by.
If you enoyed this trip down memory lane, you might like our photo gallery looking back at the best of the 60s.
1. Clearing the roads
Shovels at the ready to clear the snow in Sheffield during the big freeze in February 1963 | Sheffield Newspapers
2. 'Arctic wasteland'
Blackpool beach looking like an 'Arctic wasteland' with frozen snow and ice-floes along its whole length in January 1963. This photo shows Central Beach and Central Pier. | library
4. Put your back into it
The police come to the aid of a stranded motorist on West Beach, Lytham, following heavy snow in 1982 | National World
6. Snow drifts
Snow drifts at Bar House, Yorkshire, which reached heights of eight to 10 feet, in 1963 | YPN