The Gulf stream keeps us (relatively) warm and being on the east coast of any continent makes the weather a little more habitable. If you go a couple of thousand clicks to the east from here, you end up in Moscow which is actually a little to the south of where I'm at. There they have really harsh winters. Typical inland climate.
Winter here is most years wet and a few degrees above freezing until new year's and then colder with perhaps a little snow for a few weeks and then wet and just above freezing until about now.
And dark.