Its the moderating effect of the Mediterranean! Its wild to see the temperature differences of Wisconsin, Montana, Dakota(s) compared to France & Spain. All that water helps insulate Europe even those its at a northern latitude.
It's actually primarily from the AMOC which is bringing warm water up to the Northern Atlantic from the gulf [0].
Fun fact: a possible consequence of climate change is the near term collapse of the AMOC which would cause drastic cooling in Europe (it also has more severe long-term consequences like leading to an anoxic ocean that emits hydrogen-sulfide instead of oxygen, such events have happened multiple times in Earth's past and played a part in major extinction events [1]).
