Major misconception, Jay--so major that I could make a case your mistake was in thinking of the UK summer as "cold and wet," whereas actually it's not so bad at all (depending, of course, on specific location). Points of comparison close to home: Faroe Islands, coastal Norway, Iceland... Farther afield, Newfoundland/Labrador, coastal Alaska, parts of N.Z. South Island, certainly Ushuaia (at 54 degrees south without benefit of your Gulf Stream).
I rode through accumulating snow at sea level while leaving Ushuaia in early February. No one who lived there seemed at all surprised.
Mark
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