Out in the North Sea, everybody fears the storms... except the divers who can't wait for the paycheque! 
Nothing used to make me feel more alive than waking up in the cabin in the dark when we took a big wave, I was half off the bunk almost on the floor in the dark with gravity going the wrong way, everything spilling off shelves, shower water bubbling up in and fillig the cabin. So long as you waited long enough and things went roughly right enough you were ok.
...We were a very heavy weather capable boat, old skool with long term record. We spent allot of time riding weather than going home in and out like everyone else in the area seemed to.
...But in 2009/2010 winter I used to work in Finland where we had -40oc. When I came home to uk we had massive snow (theres a newspaper picture digging me personally out of 2 feet before any drifts!). It felt warm to me for a while until the wet kicked in. I had -18 recorded on my dash driving on the high ground.
So we in the UK have had this type of weather before. But 2 weeks constant talking about it beforehand we could prep for it, warnngs and prep before, everyone seems to be surprised when it comes.
