A mix of:
1. Denial. Color pictures about the snow statistics back in 1770 while snow disruption happened in the UK this year, the previous year, the year before that and the year before that. It will happen in 2020 too. What will you do if the UK gets the next vortex thingy? Close the country for weeks?
2. Mistification of snow. Special wet snow in the UK vs. dry snow in Europe? BS. You get both everywhere (and the other 20 types). You need to be ready to clean both. Guys blabbing in he telly about the end of the world with hardly flakes coming down around them? Come on. Should teach people what a winter tyre is and to have a blanket/shovel/food and a full fuel tank at all times if you don't want to be the Florida gators frozen in the swamp (thinking WTF??).
3. Different scales. Most of the times your "heavy" snow is not really heavy snow. Your "freezing" weather is not very freezing weather. Your feared snow "accumulation" happens in 2 mins in Helsinki. Yes, it's possible to operate airports in heavy snow (for even days/weeks of it), see Finland, Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Russia etc. Basically any place on Earth spending on it, planning with it and training staff to deal with it.
4. Economic excuses. Yes, ploughs, de-icing rigs and liguid are bloody expensive. As does landing lights, ILS, terminals, security staff etc but you still pay those to ensure safe and continuous operation. Airlines know that is expensive but they are willing to pay for them to avoid disruptions as they do in all corners of the continent. Buy/operate them and charge it on the airlines for God sake as does every airport in Europe. They will be happy to pay for it if they see something on return instead of the repeated meltdowns. A LOT better than shelling out the 250 EUR to each pax (if you fly to a country where the judge does not accept 1 cm of snow as the reason for an airport closure).
5. Training of staff. Can't do effective snow cleaning/de-icing ops with people who need winter preparation memos like "it will be cold", "you will need to wear gloves and warm clothing" etc. Send them for a training in Oslo, Stockholm or Helsinki to get the grasp of the task and how to deal with it. Not only the de-icers and the plough drivers. You get the news of fuelers refusing to get to the apron in 2mm of snow and you don't know whether you should laugh or cry.