Yes, Will, I noticed that the Weather sooth sayers had issue an unprecedented 'Red' alert for the Dumfries and Galloway area. A tad OTT, methinks..

In fact, Winters always seemed to be like this one in the 1950s and 60s. How well I remember frozen ears, chilblains, and cracked lips. Usually, we lots of icicle stalactites, bulging lead water pipes (yes, lead..

), and cinders scattered on paths for extra grip. In Germany, it's compulsory for home owners to clear the path outside their homes, and this helps keep things moving. Mind you, in this age of 'compensation culture' we'd be reluctant to do that just in case some 'compo' vulture decided to fall over on our patch of path...
I think we
were better equipped for hard winters then (snowploughs for trains etc..), but I suspect spending on appropriate infrastructure (snowblowers and the like) has declined over the years, and been hastened by the privatisation of road services.. (Bear of Scotland and others..). Also 'global warming' seems to take us from one weather extreme to the other, where winters (seemed or) were once predictably, and regularly cold...
On the topic of cars, it wasn't unusual for drivers to keep snow chains handy back then, just as they do in Switzerland and other Alpine regions today, as well as Northern Europe. Maybe we should too..