Here’s our latest Surfdonkey episode from a few months back just to remind you of what really cold is like. Also we have a great excuse-a-thon. We had this subtitled for the Surfilm Festibal in Spain so enjoy the bilingual silliness.
Our water gets to effectively 0C. Lots of slushy ice in the water to paddle through occasionally and always snowdrifts to walk through in the winter :P.
Typically the deep winter hovers close to 1-2 degrees though.
You may be on a close latitude but that gulf stream across the Atlantic makes just enough difference.